Off Beat Meetings
by Splint
Summary: All the stuff in dating sims never happen in real life, she said. Yet, Konata Izumi finds herself triggering a flag of her own. What would've been an ordinary weekend for the blue haired girl may turn out to be more interesting than she thought. COMPLETE!
1. Dating sims, dinner, and the first flag

Disclaimer: The characters from the show are not mine. Please don't sue me.

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"What kind of a crazy concept for a game is that?" inquired Kagami.

As usual, it was lunch time and Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki were spending their time together in Kuroi-sensei's classroom eating their lunches while waiting for their next class. As usual, Konata was bragging about her dating-sims and this new one she recently got.

"Don't you think that even though its strange," said Konata, "it still has a certain appeal?"

"A guy turns into a girl and a whole bunch of perverted stuff happens to him…her…whatever! That doesn't sound all that interesting to me."

"But you should see all the situations Takuya-kun gets himself into as a girl. Remember that he has to maintain a relationship with his current girlfriend the whole time. But of course since this is a dating-sim he can actually end up with a different number of girls depending on which flags I trigger."

"But all the flags seem to only lead to the most ridiculous situations."

"Umm…uh…guys," interjected Tsukasa, turning away from her lunch momentarily. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow what this game is about."

"It's basically about this boy student," explained Kagami to her sibling, "who manages to somehow change into a girl after he volunteered for some crazy scientific experiment. He then spends the whole of the game just trying to get back his manhood while ending up in the most perverted situations."

"Eh…so he's a she?" asked Tsukasa innocently.

"He turns into a she but He eventually turns back into a he again."

"But it's not a simple as that," said Konata. "There's actually two sequels, where he ends up turning into a she again at both times and again trying to turn back into a he. The games are interesting because even though he is actually wants to be a guy, he actually makes a better girl."

"Didn't you say there were alternate endings where he could stay a girl?"

"Yup. Because even though he's mostly trying to change back into a he, a lot of people from the game want him to stay as a she and are doing their best to make sure he doesn't turn back into a he and stays a she. But of course these endings are not considered the true endings because if he stayed a she, this would invalidate the sequels to follow where he again starts off as a he then turns into a she and tries to turn back into a he again. So in essence he has to turn back into a he from the previous games."

Tsukasa had a blank expression. "So, he's a he…then a she…then a he again—no, wait! He can stay a she…or she could stay a he…or was it…she could stay a she instead of being a he…"

Konata and Kagami both watched as Tsukasa's mind practically imploded on itself. Kagami wore a slightly frustrated face while Konata took a lot of entertainment from the sight.

"But you know," said Miyuki, looking up from her lunch, "it's impossible to spontaneously change gender like that."

"But aren't there a lot of people having sex-change operations nowadays?" asked Kagami.

"Yes, that's true. But a real sex-change operation takes a long time and requires a lot of lengthy procedures. And even after the operation, it can't be said that the patient has completely change into the opposite sex since that is technically impossible."

"So even after that expensive operation, the change is still more or less superficial, huh?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"…I'm still confused," said Tsukasa.

A drop of sweat ran down the other three's heads.

"Still," said Konata, "wouldn't it be cool if people could spontaneously change their gender? I sometimes wish some scientist would really invent some kind of formula like in the game that would instantly turn a person into the opposite gender."

"Why would people want to do that? It's a waste of time if you ask me."

"You only say that because you, for one, don't need the formula, Kagamin."

"Eh?"

"I mean with your aggressive demeanor, you could hardly be called "girly" as it is. Your voice is always so low and masculine. And from all that fatty stuff you eat, you actually look pretty buff for a girl. It's pretty easy to disguise yourself by just tying up your hair up. Heck, you could probably ask other girls out if you want to."

A vein popped up on Kagami's forehead. "Shut up!"

Konata giggled to herself as Kagami steamed. Tsukasa and Miyuki simply sweat-dropped in slight amusement. Tsukasa, feeling out of the conversation again, decided to start a new one with a topic she was familiar with.

"By the way," said Tsukasa, "what do you guys think of the new amusement park that's gonna open this Saturday?"

"Huh?...Oh, right," said Kagami in realization. There was indeed a new amusement park that was under construction for the past months or so. Apparently it was a travelling company since they said that they'll only stay for a month before moving on to the next prefecture. "It's already opening this weekend? I almost forgot."

"I think it would be cool to have an amusement park near us. It'll only be a few minutes commute from our places. We could have fun there."

"I heard there will have a lot of rides," said Miyuki, "including a large Ferris wheel and a roller coaster."

"Yeah, I can't wait to check that place out! Let's go as soon as we can, huh guys?"

"But, do we have to go the first night its open?" inquired Kagami. "You just know it'll be packed."

"Yes, openings are usually like that," concurred Miyuki.

"Nevertheless, I think we should go anyway, and better to do it as son as we can too." said Konata.

"See," said Tsukasa, "Kona-chan agrees with me."

"Why do you want to go so much?" asked Kagami.

Konata rubbed her chin contemplatively for an instant then shot her finger forward as if to make a declaration. "Because, Kagami-chan, an amusement park…is an ideal location for triggering a number of flags!!!"

"Forget I asked…"

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Later, after school was out.

The girls when on about their day as normal. They all chatted merrily until the parted ways somewhere on their commute to their respective homes. Konata and her little cousin Yutaka arrived at theirs around five in the afternoon after stopping by the grocery store and picking up some stuff they needed to make dinner with. Konata was informed beforehand that her cousin Yui would be staying tonight so she bought plenty to eat, enough to feed her family of four, a number which she often wondered how it could've been achieved.

"We're home," she called out as she entered her front door.

"Welcome back, Konata-chan and Yu-chan!!!"

Konata and Yutaka was taken aback by their elder cousin who greeted them as they entered the Izumi house. One look at Yui and Konata had no doubt in her mind that the woman was drunk again. The half-empty bottle of sake in her hand was a big enough clue.

"I've missed you guys so much!" she shouted out loud.

Konata sweatdropped. "But, Cousin Yui, we only saw each other this morning."

"Heh? Really? I can't seem to remember seeing you this morning. Heck, I can't seem to remember this morning at all."

"Been hitting the bottle too early again, Cousin Yui?"

"Eh what does it matter?! Let's go eat already!"

"I still have to make dinner first."

"Eat! Eat! Eat!"

Cousin Yui staggered off into the house leaving Konata and Yutaka sighing at the entrance. Both girls proceeded to remove their shoes and got inside.

"I'm sorry about that, Kona-chan," Yutaka apologized. "Big sis is just excited that her husband is coming here this weekend."

"Oh, really? Lucky her! They should go to that new amusement park that's opening this weekend."

"Oh they are! Big sis told me they'll go this Sunday."

Konata rubbed her chin and smirked knowingly. "Hehehe, it seems that Cousin Yui is smarter than I give her credit for."

"Eh?"

Konata shot a finger forward and had sparks in her eyes. "Cousin Yui will most definitely trigger a flag at the theme park with her husband! It is absolute genius!!"

Yutaka looked on, clueless.

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A little later.

Dinner went by uneventfully and soon Konata was in her room looking over the homework she was given for the day. Or at least she attempted to look over her homework for the day. As usual, her natural instinct was to simply look away from the pieces of paper that lied in front of her on her desk. But, with a resilient grunt, she decided to give it the old college try.

She dealt with the easy stuff first. Essay homework and reactions papers were simple enough to do but she still complained about the time it took her to write all that stuff. The last bit was the hardest for her: Mathematics. She had only a few problems to solve but one look at the lengthy equations and different variables made her feel like she was about to throw up. Nevertheless she still placed her pencil on the paper on her desk. The pencil didn't move for over a minute and Konata just stared at the paper as if staring at it would force the answers to come out themselves.

Without thinking about it, her hand reached over to her cell phone and she dialed a number. The receiving phone rang twice before the owner answered.

"No, Konata, I'm not gonna tell you the answers to your homework," said Kagami from the other line, already knowing what her friend was going to ask for.

Konata sweat-dropped. "But Kagamin, the problems are so hard…" she said in a pleading tone.

"It's your own fault for not putting enough effort in your studies, Konata. You should be more responsible about your academics. I'm trying to be a better friend to you by encouraging you that you do your own work."

"You say that, but I'll bet you're doing Tsukasa's homework for her right now!"

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At the Hiiragi house

Kagami momentarily choked as she was looking down at what she was doing which was exactly what Konata said she was doing. The pencil in her hand stopped cold as a result. Seated across from Kagami, Tsukasa gave an embarrassed grin as she seemed to have picked up on the phone conversation which was actually loud enough for her to hear Konata. Kagami realized the Konata pulled one over her and that she lost this little verbal jousting.

"I'm right, aren't I?" asked Konata confidently from the other line.

Kagami sighed with a hint of disappointment in herself for being too kind on both her sibling and her friend. "Yeah, yeah…"

"That's not fair, Kagamin! I know Tsukasa needs more help than me but still you should give me some consideration too," Konata said playfully.

Tsukasa was taken aback by the comment and then looked down at her feet in knowing shame while mumbling to herself. Kagami sweat-dropped nervously and waved her hand to her sister to try and boost her morale again.

"Well, Kagamin, what do you say?"

The brainy girl sighed in defeat. "Fine, but I'm not gonna just tell you the answers alright. Just tell me where you're having problems and I'll just guide you along, okay?"

"Works for me!"

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Back at the Izumi house.

With Kagami's help, they managed to finish her homework (and Tsukasa's as well) in a matter of minutes. Once everything was done Konata thanked Kagami and ended their little phone conversation then and there. She packed away the homework into her schoolbag and jumped straight for her computer.

"I think I'll relax with some late-night dating-sim," she said to herself.

She turned on her PC and clicked the shortcut icon on the desktop. Within second the screen turned into the main menu for her latest dating-sim game. It was the third in a series which she and her friends were talking about just that morning at school.

"Now let's see if we can get Ayano-chan's better ending," she said to herself. "I didn't like what happened to her with Natsumi…"

Konata grabbed her mouse and moved the cursor to the "load game" button. As she was about to click, her sell phone musical ringtone caused her to jump slightly, due to the fact that its so rare that she actually carries her cell phone with her, let alone hear someone call her.

She picked up the phone and looked at the small LCD screen before answering. The number was not any of her friends and was not familiar to her at all. She stared at the unknown number as the phone kept playing "Hare Hare Yukai" ringtone. For a brief moment, Konata fantasized that she was in one of her dating-sims and that this was as one of branching paths of the game where one option would lead to a more exciting ending while the other leads to a less than agreeable outcome. Trigger the flag, she thought.

Eventually she decided to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Ah, I finally reached you!" said the caller. It was a young guy's voice.

Konata looked puzzled. The guy's voice was not anyone she knew and yet something in the voice was familiar to her. She pondered on this for quite a while causing the caller to wonder if she had vanished after saying hello.

"Oy, are you still there?"

Konata snapped out of it. "Uh yeah, I'm here but who is this? And how did you get my number?"

"Your number? Your dad gave it to me when I tried to reach your home number. I've been trying to reach you since lunch."

Apparently, the stranger didn't know of Konata's habit of never bringing her cell phone with her. "Oh, I see…wait! You still haven't told me your name."

"So you're dad didn't tell you? I guess he thought I'd have called you by now. Still I was kinda hoping _you_ know my name."

By then, Konata was actually getting annoyed. "Hey, buddy you called me! I don't know you so how can you expect me to know your name?! Are you some kind of stalker who's into short girls with flat chests? You do realize that's illegal, right?!"

A few seconds of silence followed by hearty laughter from the other line. "Haha-ha! Oh, you still haven't changed that much, have you?"

Konata was now very annoyed. "Who is this?"

"So you really don't remember me yet? I have to admit I'm a little insulted…_chiisai __kitsune__-chan_,"

Konata was about to scream into the phone when the words suddenly clicked in her head. That old nickname! Her eyes went wide in shock and her throat dried up with her mouth left agape. She may have not been completely familiar with the voice but the way he called her that…That couldn't be it, can it?

"You…" Konata found herself fumbling for words. "No way…are you?..."

The voice of the caller sounded pleased at her realization. "Ah, so you finally remembered me, huh?"

Before she knew it, a slight smile was forming on her lips. "Oh, no way…how long has it been?"

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Author's note: I've decided to try my hand at a Lucky Star fic since I've come to like the show a lot. Plus this Idea was swimming around in my head for a long time now. There will be a few chapters to follow so be sure to look out for those. Pls. R&R so I know what you guys think of it so far.

Other notes: The dating-sim the gang was talking about was the "X-change" series by Crowd.

Translation note: "chiisai kitsune" translates to "little fox." (I thought it'd be appropriate after watching Ep18 of the show)


	2. Orange juice, soy sauce, and playgrounds

Disclaimer: I don't own these copyrighted characters, ok?

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Morning the next day.

The daily bumps and grinds of Kasukabe starts anew as all kinds of people from students to office workers fill the streets in their daily commutes. Among the crowds, standing at the train station, waiting or the next train to arrive was Kagami, Tsukasa, Konata, and Yutaka who since arriving at the Izumi household has decided to take the same route as her big cousin in going to school. The train arrived and the four high school girls got in, found themselves seats, and settled in for the short ride to school.

Honestly, Tsukasa," said Kagami in a slightly scolding tone, "you need to get up more early in the morning otherwise we might be late for school the next time."

"Sorry, Onee-chan," said Tsukasa in her ever innocent tone. "But you know that you and I usually wake up around the same time, right."

"That may be true but you take longer to get out of bed. I'm almost finished with breakfast by the time you get to the table."

Tsukasa could only laugh nervously. At this point Tsukasa started to blabber a bit and she also moved her hands about as if to try to make some kind of visual as to what she was talking about.

"But, Onee-chan, you know that it's hard for some people to get up in the morning, right? Like me, for example. Even though I wake up at the same time as you, my body doesn't want to get out of bed just yet and I end up going back to sleep for a few more minutes. Then even after I get out of bed my body still feels too tired to do anything."

"Are you sure that's not just and excuse for staying up too late at night?"

"No, it's not! I promise!"

Yutaka giggled a bit. "Don't be so hard of her, Hiiragi-chan. That happens to me a lot too."

Both of the Hiiragi sisters turned to the small pink-haired girl. "Is that so, Yu-chan?" asked Kagami.

Yutaka nodded. "Yes. Even though I manage to get up early, I feel like I still want to sleep no matter what. And when I get to breakfast, I'm always too sleepy to have an appetite. Sometimes I even end up sleeping at the table."

"That's right, Yu-chan!" said Tsukasa. "It's really hard to get up in the morning isn't it?"

"Hey, don't jump to conclusions so soon, Tsukasa," said Kagami to her sister then turned back to Yutaka. "Yu-chan, isn't it because you're a little sickly that you get tired more easily?"

"No, I'm pretty sure this happens to a lot of people too," Yutaka said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I see."

Tsukasa looked happily towards her sister. "I told you, Onee-chan."

Kagami sighed, "I guess I'm the exception again, huh. But what about Konata-chan?"

Yutaka cheerfully snickered as if remembering something entertaining. "Oh, even Onee-chan goes through things like this sometimes, especially after she's been gaming the night before. Like I remember this one time…"

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Konata hobbled across the hallway of her house into the dining room where her dad and Yutaka were already waiting and about to start their breakfasts. Konata said (more like slurred) the customary "good morning" and her family members returned it though with her sleep-deprived senses she was barely ably to register them.

Konata took her place at the table and saw that breakfast was already prepared for her, which were last night's leftovers reheated by her dad and a glass of orange juice. She had some trouble finding her utensils and the rest of her table settings. This caused Yutaka to watch her older cousin curiously.

Konata reached for what she thought was a bottle of sugar. Yutaka noted that it was actually soy sauce. Yutaka sweat-dropped. Konata poured at least two teaspoon's worth of the salty, black liquid into her orange juice. Yutaka sweat-dropped a bit more. Konata set aside the soy sauce and grabbed her glass sheepishly then brought it up to her mouth. Yutaka sweat-dropped a lot more and, finally realizing Konata was not of sound thinking at the moment, raised her hand to call out to her older cousin.

"Um…Onee-chan…" Yutaka called.

Too late. Konata had already taken a long sheepish sip of the juice. Exactly two point eighty-seven seconds later, Konata's eyes went wide and she vehemently spit out the disgusting concoction from her mouth. She coughed a bit, finally coming to her full senses. She looked up to noticed that her dad was now soaking wet with her drink and had an annoyed look on his face.

Konata cringed. Yutaka was only able to laugh nervously.

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Back at the train.

"Needless to say Uncle Sōjirō gat a little mad after that," said Yutaka.

The Hiiragi sisters were having a laugh at Konata's expense. Yutaka couldn't help but follow soon after. By the time they were finished, Tsukasa almost had tears in her eyes.

"That is so like Kona-chan!" said Tsukasa as she giggled a bit more.

"I know," replied Yutaka.

"You see," said Kagami, "this is what I keep warning you about playing games all night, Konata-chan."

Konata didn't answer. Her three companions got curious and turned towards her. Konata wasn't paying attention to any of them. Instead she was absent-mindedly staring out the opposite window, almost nostalgically.

"Konata?" called Kagami.

The blue-haired girl didn't respond.

"…Konata!" Kagami exclaimed a little louder.

Konata jumped a bit. "Huh?! What? What's going on?"

"You were zoning out."

"Oh, uh, sorry you guys I was just…thinking about something. What were you guys talking about just now?"

"About that time," Tsukasa answered, "when you accidentally put soy sauce in your juice."

A flash of memory from Konata. "Oh, that's a funny story. You see I was up all night playing games so when it cam to breakfast the next morning--"

"Uh, Yu-chan already told us the story."

"Eh? Uh, right…"

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay, Konata?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Guess I just have a little too much stuff on my mind."

The others could only stare at her curiously.

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Lunch time at school.

"So it was pretty weird the way Onee-chan acted on the train to school," said Yutaka. "She said that it was only because she had something on her mind. What do you guys think?"

Two of Yutaka's friends, Minami and Hiyori were seated with her on two tabled that were pulled together where they could eat their lunches. Minami looked up and put a finger to her chin in serious contemplation to Yutaka's inquiry.

"Maybe she was just remembering something," said Minami in her signature monotone voice. "Is there something about it that worries you, Kobayakawa-san?"

"Not really. "It's just that Onee-chan doesn't usually act like that, that's all."

"I see,"

"Maybe she just saw something on the TV," said Hiyori, "or a manga that made her think about stuff, ya know?"

"That could be possible, Tamura-san,"

"I know how your cousin likes to read a lot of manga and watch late-night animes."

"Maybe you should ask her yourself," suggested Minami.

"Nah. I'm sure Onee-chan is okay," replied Yutaka cheerfully. "She may not look it but she's actually pretty mature. I'm sure she could deal with no matter what."

"You really look up to her don't you, Kobayakawa-san?"

"I do. I've always admired the way Onee-chan can stay positive in any situation. I wish I had her confidence."

"…So do I."

"Really? Why is that, Minami-chan?" asked Hiyori.

Minami had her back turned to them, patting her chest with her hands, and was mumbling to herself. "I wish I didn't have to worry about my shortcomings like Izumi-san."

Her two friends could only look curiously.

"By the way, are we still up for the sleep-over at your place, Minami-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! I have prepared the house for you guys and even Martin-san."

"That's great then!"

"It'll be also a great opportunity for us to finish our group project. We can even ask Patty-chan since she's from America."

Yutaka was just about finishing up her lunch and picked up the last miniature burger patty from her bento with her chopsticks. But as she brought the patty to her mouth it suddenly slipped off the chopsticks and landed on the floor. Yutaka yelped then sighed disappointingly.

"Awww," she groaned. "That was my last patty. And I was even saving it for last. Now it's too dirty."

Minami looked down at her own bento and saw that she still had some burger patties left herself. She put down her utensils and extended the bento towards Yutaka.

"Uh, Kobayakawa-san. I'm full already so you can have my leftovers if you want."

Yutaka looked happily towards Minami. "Eh? Really, Iwasaki-san?"

Hiyori was watching all this and in her mind…

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"Minami-chan…" Yutaka almost stuttered as she mentioned the name of the girl in front of her. She shyly averted her eyes from the sight of the slender student as to hide her growing blush of affection.

"Yutaka, you must be hungry still," said Minami in a caring tone with a blush growing on her face.

"But, Minami-chan, I cannot. These burger patties are yours. They were made especially for Minami-chan."

"Please, I insist," said the green-haired girl as she affectionately looked upon the meek little girl in front of her and offered up her almost-empty bento like it was a precious thing. "You need them more than I do, Yutaka. I would gladly give you these hamburger patties and anything else I might have for your sake, Yutaka. It is my duty to you."

Yutaka turned towards Minami with small teardrops forming in the corner of her eyes. "Oh, I'm so touched! Minami-chan!"

"Yutaka…"

"Minami-chan…"

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Back in the real world.

An embarrassed blush spread across Hiyori's face and the long-haired girl started to shake her head violently from side to side as she mumbled to herself. "No! No! No! Stop thinking thoughts like that! Their your friends, for goodness sake! Calm down, me!"

Yutaka and Minami simply looked at her clueless.

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Later that afternoon.

Konata was on her way home all by herself. She left the Hiiragi twins at the station where they went their separate ways. Yutaka was also not with her since she was sleeping over at the Iwasaki household. To be honest, she was feeling a bit lonely at that point. She let out an exasperated sigh as she continued her journey home.

As she walked further she suddenly found herself stopping at a certain crossroad. She had crossed this junction well over a thousand times by now. She would always go in just one direction, going straight ahead, whenever she reached this crossroad. The direction that lead to her home. But she then found herself looking at another direction, the one to her left. That also led to a familiar place. She found that she was actually indecisive of where to go.

Go straight. Go left. Two options. Pick one.

After a while, Konata picked the later option and after only a couple minutes worth of walking she was there.

The place was nothing special by any means. It was simply a small playground with the usual stuff one would expect to see like a slide, swings, a jungle gym, monkey bars, etc. The playground was unusually empty that afternoon. Konata sat down on one of the swings and let her mind take her back. This place held some memories for her. They were few, but she liked thinking about them nonetheless.

Suddenly her cell phone, which was for once brought along by her, suddenly played "Hare Hare Yukai." Konata quickly fished it out of her bag and looked at the number. One look and a sense of excitement filled her. She answered the all.

"Hello? Hello? This is Izumi. Anyone there?"

The caller suddenly hung up. Konata pulled the phone away from her ear in utter shock. "He hung up on me?!"

"Well I figured it'd be a waste of batteries," said a familiar voice from behind Konata.

Konata went wide-eyed, hopped off the swing, and turned around and saw what she was expecting but it still filled her with some surprise.

The person standing a few meters away was a Japanese teenage boy. At first glance there was nothing overly special about the boy. His looks were average to say the least. He was about five and a half feet tall with an average build. His skin was light and had a slight tan. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with white strings hanging from the collar, a pair of black, faded, denim pants, and white running shoes. He had a boyish complexion that was complemented by he medium-length, light brown hair.

"I figured I'd see you hear," said the boy as he started to casually moved towards Konata.

Konata had a slight smile forming on her face. "Wow, it's really you! Man, you've really changed!"

"Yup, that's true." The boy was standing in front of her now. He playfully placed a hand on her head which was well below his own neckline.

"But you haven't changed all that much, _chiisai kitsune-chan_,"he said with slight emphasis on the word _chiisai_.

"_Chiisai __ja__nai_" eplied Konata completely automatically as she pushed his hand away.

He laughed at the humor of the moment. A moment later, so did Konata. Both teens had themselves a good laugh for a long moment which they both thoroughly enjoyed.

"Anyway," said Konata while smiling, "It's good to see you again…Kirio-kun!"

The boy, Kirio, smiled back at her. "You too, Konata-chan."

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Author's note: Hmmm, got a lot more reviews than I expected. I'm really glad about it. Thanks to all those who reviewed my first chapter. Hope you like this one and all that will follow. Pls. R&R

Translation note: "Chiisai ja nai" translates to "I'm not little."


	3. Oven mitts, manga, and a night out

Disclaimer: These characters (most of them anyway) are still not mine!

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In the Hiiragi household.

Tsukasa was preparing dinner while her twin was setting the table along with their older siblings. Their parents would come home in a few minutes and once they do the family could start dinner. With a limited number of ingredients at hand, the sisters simply decided to have a simple meal of Chinese Fried Rice.

With the meal being so simple, Kagami decided that she wanted to give cooking a try, determined to improve her household skills. Tsukasa tried to tell her that she had everything under control but Kagami was insistent. Tsukasa, being ever so obedient to her older-by-a-few-minutes sister, obliged to her while at the same time hoping for nothing to go wrong. Kagami grabbed the ladle for Tsukasa with one hand and grabbed the wok with the other.

It took about two seconds for her above-average intelligent mind to realize that she was grabbing the bare metal handle of a sizzling hot cast-iron wok with a completely unprotected hand.

"Yeeeeeooooooowwww!"

The sudden yelp of pain prompted the two elder siblings, Matsuri and Inori, to rush into the kitchen where they found Kagami blowing on her palm with almost teary eyes.

"What happened in here?" asked the eldest sister, Inori.

Tsukasa turned to them both with a nervous smile. "Ehh, Onee-chan accidentally grabbed the wok with her bare hand."

This took a few moments to register with the two eldest sisters but once they grasped the statement they both saw great humor in it and started to laugh in Kagami's expense.

"Seriously?!" said Inori. "And I thought she was supposed to be the smart one!"

"Don't be so mean, Inori-chan," said Matsuri, though she herself was doing her best to stifle a laugh, "I'm sure we all made that mistake at least once."

"Still, haven't you ever heard of an oven mitt, Kagami?"

A vein popped in Kagami's noggin. "Alright, already! So I make one little mistake. I'm just trying to learn over here."

"Yeah, yeah I know! But you have to admit, it's pretty funny."

"But still," said Inori, "it's also pretty admirable for Kagami to want to learn more about housework."

Kagami turned her glance away as she was slightly embarrassed. "Well, everyone else is better at it than me so I thought that it couldn't hurt to practice, even though I'm taking a home economics class at school."

"That's good to hear, Kagami-chan. We'll help you out if you want."

"Eh?" said Matsuri, "why should we?"

Inori turned to her younger sister with a slightly scolding look. "Matsuri-chan, you know that you owe Kagami-chan. Even though you're in college you still have to ask her for help with your homework."

Matsuri was taken aback but otherwise could not argue against that statement. Kagami snickered quietly to herself with pride while Tsukasa giggle at Matsuri's expense.

"Okay, fine," agreed Matsuri. "But I have to ask why the sudden need to improve on household skills, Kagami?" Matsuri then put on a wry smile. "Don't tell me you're planning to get engaged anytime soon."

This was a joke of course but the rest of the sisters still turned beet red for a moment at that thought presented by the statement.

"Of course not!" exclaimed Kagami.

Matsuri laughed at her little sister's expense. Meanwhile, Tsukasa decided to clarify things herself. "Ehh, I think it's probably because Kona-chan kept teasing Onee-chan about her cooking skills."

"Kona-chan?" asked Inori, "you mean that friend of yours who has that really long hair?'

"Yup. Kona-chan is actually an excellent cook and is the best at home economics class."

"Well, I can see wanting to show up your friend who's been teasing you," said Matsuri before sighing in mock relief. "I was afraid for a second that my little sister managed to get a guy before me."

Kagami flushed. "Onee-chan!"

"Well, since I know a little bit about this friend of yours, Kagami, I can definitely say that you at least still have a better chance of nabbing a guy than her. I mean she does tend to come off as a bit weird don't you think?"

Inori flashed another scolding look towards her younger sister. "Matsuri-chan! Don't be mean about people you don't know well. It's rude."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure."

Kagami sighed and the conversation ended there.

Afterwards, Kagami decided to try again with the Fried Rice, this time remembering to wrap her hand in a thick towel as tradition dictated when cooking with a wok. She did much better this time though her technique could've used some work as commented by her eldest sister, Inori. Still, she felt nice having done this much at least.

Their parents arrived sometime later and the family gathered at the table to eat. In the middle of the meal, Kagami found herself thinking back to what Matsuri said to her. She was told that she still had a better chance of getting a guy than Konata.

She thought about Konata, with her short, child-like build and obsessive drive for anime, manga, and games. What were the chances of someone like Konata getting a significant other before Kagami? While she wouldn't mind if Konata would get herself a guy, it was nice thought that she, to a certain degree, was more suitable a bride. Too bad she didn't know any decent boys and neither did her friends.

Kagami was giggling before she knew it. Her family asked her what was so funny but she simply evaded the question and returned to her Fried Rice.

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In the Izumi household.

"I see your taste in manga haven't changed all that much," said Kirio as he browsed through Konata's bookshelf which held a number of mangas.

The bookshelf full of manga was only one of the things that he noticed about the blue-haired girl's room. There were dozens of manga and anime related goods all over the place from posters to statues to consumer products designed in the image of popular characters. He also recalled to a little while back when he walked to the playground that her remembered from long ago. He remembered how he saw a girl and, unsure of her identity, took his cell phone from his pocket and called her. The ring tone was something he wasn't particularly familiar with but he knew it was from an anime somewhere.

"Well, I tried other stuff before when I borrowed them from friends," replied Konata who was seated on her computer chair, still in her uniform. "But I always seem to come back to shōnen. "

"Most people wouldn't really associate a girl like you to enjoy shōnen manga, ya know?"

Konata gave a mock look of insult. "Why? What's wrong with a girl liking shōnen?"

"Nothing. I just said it was unusual."

"Hey! Don't look down on us unusual people! You for get that unusual traits that separate us from the common folk are what make us great!"

"So you admit your unusual?"

"I happen to be proud of my unusual traits!"

"Like the fact that you're short and flat-chested?"

Konata choked and bowed down here head in defeat. Kirio noticed her silence and had a laugh at her expense. Konata fumed at the fact that he found humor in that. "You know me too much, Kirio-kun…" she mumbled to herself.

Kirio reached up a hand and pulled down a volume of _Air Gear _and started flipping through the pages of the book.

"I see you read this too," said Kirio. "It's my favorite, actually."

Konata looked up again to Kirio. "Oh, really? I thought so. I remember you loved to roller-skate, Kirio-kun."

"Still do. And if somebody ever invents a real pair of Air Treks, I'll be the first one at their door."

Konata laughed a bit at that. "I'm sure you will. I don't like the anime that much though. It's too short and doesn't show enough of the story. The manga much more interesting even though the only character with any moe value is that schizophrenic gay guy. How far have you read, Kirio-kun?"

"Volume 18."

Konata's jaw dropped. "Huh? But they don't even have volume 17 out yet here!"

"Is that so? Should I tell you what happens to Ikki and Kururu?"

Konata started waving her hands wildly. No! No! Don't tell me! I've been following this story closely, I don't want any spoilers!"

Kirio took some humor in her reaction. "They should have the other volumes in the stores around here. Why didn't you get one yet?"

"Eh, I was just occupied with other manga and stuff. Busy stuff, you know?"

Kirio looked around the room a bit and spotted Konata's school bag still closed. "Among those distractions, was one of them studying for school?"

Konata choked again. Kirio held back a snicker. "Kona-chan, how do you expect to go to college with that kind of attitude?"

"N-None of your business! Actually, I do just fine I school you know!"

"Oh, so you're still an expert in all-nighters, huh?"

Konata was getting annoyed of Kirio pointing out all her bad habits. "Hey, if it works…!"

Kirio continued to take humor out off Konata's reactions. Konata fumed. "Knock it off, Kirio-kun!"

Kirio stopped his giggling and gave a look that was partly serious and coupled with an oddly sympathetic smile. "Why? You're not gonna cry are you?"

Konata was taken slightly aback by that comment. She didn't answer immediately but she soon had a knowing look and returned the slight smile with her own. "Of course not," she said. "I'm done crying, remember?"

"Yeah, I do"

They both exchanged knowing looks and didn't speak for a while though they both knew that whatever was conveyed didn't need to be said between them. Kirio closed the manga he was reading and returned it to the book shelf. He browsed a bit more and pulled down a volume of _KissxSis_. He remembered reading the first volume of this manga and found the whole plotline to be pleasingly ridiculous. That Particular manga reminded him of someone else.

"By the way," he said, "how's your dad?"

"Oh, same-old same-old. Still doting over young girls in his spare time."

Kirio flashed her an inquisitive look. "You should be more respectful about your dad, you know."

"What? I'm being honest. But don't worry, I know that he isn't a bad guy."

"Where is he by the way?" asked Kirio, remembering the fact that he and Konata were the only two people in the house.

"He left a note on the table that said he'll be working late so he just might spend the night at his editor's office doing some proofreading or something. It's such a hassle for him to be telling me this now. I bought a lot of stuff to make dinner with. Even Yu-chan is staying over at her friend's place tonight so all that food I bought will have to wait till tomorrow. Such a waste."

"Yu-chan?"

"Oh, I mean my younger cousin, Yutaka."

"Your younger cousin is living with you guys? What's she like?"

"She's studying at my school as a first year high school student. She's a little sickly so she can't make the daily commute all the way from her place. She's also short for her age, shorter than me actually. She's also not as good in housework as me so she asks me to help her out a lot. Its nice having her around because I have somebody to play games with, like a little sister."

"I see," said Kirio with a knowing smile. "So, you're saying it's nice having her around so that you can have someone you feel superior to."

Konata choked again. "I told you to stop that!"

Kirio chuckled slightly. "So what are you gonna do about dinner, now that the rest of the family isn't here?"

Konata sighed in frustration. "I don't feel much like cooking anymore. And, for once, Kuroi-sensei was kind enough not to give us any homework. I wanted to play some MMO's but their doing server maintenance today. I have nothing to do!"

"Wanna show me around town?"

"Eh?"

"I was planning to check out the town for the rest of the afternoon, I mean it's still a few hours till sundown. But now that you're here, I feel like I'd be better off if you showed me around since you don't have anything to do. After all I don't know how much this place has changed while I was gone."

"Hmmm, I don't feel like it today."

"I'll treat you to dinner and the cab ride home."

"What are we waiting for?! Kirio-kun, wait outside so I can change into more comfortable clothes!"

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Author's note: Not as long as I wanted to be but I decided the other stuff would be better in the next chapter. Pls. continue to R&R! I treasure your reviews.

Translation notes: Shōnen is the classification of manga and anime that's intended for a mostly male audience (ex: Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, etc).

Other notes: About the two mangas mentioned by ttitle. _Air Gear_ is a manga about an extreme underground sport involving super motorized in-line skates called Air Treks. _KissxSis_ is a mature manga about a young man who has two step-sisters who are madly in love with him and are on an endless quest to get him in bed with them while he himself is pretty resistant to the idea.


	4. More manga, and some cake

Disclaimer: If it's copyrighted, chances are I don't own it…and neither do you!

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At the Animate store.

Konata quietly browsed the shelves filled with all kinds of manga and DVDs for sale. She was no longer wearing her school uniform but was no in more casual attire consisting of a large blue shirt over a white, long-sleeves sweater. Some baggy denim shorts that reached passed her knees, socks, and sneakers.

Unbeknownst to the otaku girl, her every move was being monitored.

Behind her, hiding inside a ridiculously large _Sgt. Frog_ cardboard display, a male employee was using a pair of high-tech binoculars to watch the girl as she slowly made her way across the aisle. His brow was practically drenched with fresh sweat. His breathing was heavy but he was careful not to make a sound loud enough that would make him noticeable.

Konata moved to another aisle again and the whole display moved to follow her as the employee inside kept a vigilant watch over the customer.

The male employee reached into his belt and pulled out a radio and spoke into it. "Manager. Sugita reporting. Target has been spotted moving down aisle seven and a speed of 0.6 kph. Currently she's browsing the Shojo selection though her intentions are unknown. Request orders!"

"Stay hidden for now," replied the Manager's voice from the radio.

Sitting hidden near the back room, Manager Meito Anisawa gripped his radio with intense anticipation gripping his nerves.

"So you have finally returned," he said. "You may have defeated us last time but tonight will be the night when you shall finally walk up to our cash register and make a purchase! Tonight, it will be me wo will emerge victorious!"

With overly flamboyant hand movements and sparking special effects, Meito summons his employees for the night ship out into the open and screams out: "It's time! Legendary Girl A shift!!!"

From out of the shadows of the aisles, a two more female employees burst out into the open followed by a trail of sparks and flowery highlights as the both jet towards the valued customer who was Konata.

Meito screamed into his radio. "Go, Matsuri, Narabe!! Engage the customer and make a recommendation, now!!!"

"Yes, sir!" Both women affirmed in unison.

They hop off the top of the shelves and positioned themselves behind Konata in ready crouching positions. Konata however didn't seem to notice their presence as she continued to casually stroll the aisle she was in.

"Jun, Otoe, can you hear me? This is Sugita," called the man hiding in the Sgt. Frog display over the radio. "The target has not yet picked an item! She could just be browsing! Hurry and make a recommendation to her! The fate of the sale depends on it!"

"This is it, Otoe," said the woman with the red hair, Jun. "It's time that we prove our worth to Manager Anisawa. Tonight we must make this sale!"

"Yes, I understand!" replied the blonde haired Otoe.

"Let's go!"

In a fanfare of electrical effects and random heroic posing, the two girls powered-up in preparation for their massive, twin-cam attack on the customer that will, in their own assurance, sure make the sale and guarantee that Konata will finally reach the goal that is the cash register. They then jumped over the shelves on either side of the aisle where Konata was and, while hidden from view, grabbed all the new merchandise with lightning speed.

They rushed to the end of the aisle so as to intercept Konata as she came out the aisle she was on. With a fan of manga and DVDs in their hands, both girls popped out from behind the ends of the shelves to meet Konata face to face.

"Welcome!" the exclaimed in unison. "Would you like us to recommend you an item today?"

Unfortunately, by the time the two girls came out Konata was looking behind her shoulder at Kirio who was peeking out from the end of the aisle and calling out to her.

"Konata-chan, it seems that their sold out on _Air gear_ 17 and 18."

"Oh, I see," replied Konata, oblivious to the two women behind her. "Guess we'll just have to go to Gamers then."

_****_

_**BOOM!!!**_

"Not again!!!" exclaimed Meito.

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At the Iwasaki household

The four first year high school students were busy doing their part in their class advocacy project. Their part in particular was to create a banner for the campaign their class was participating in, something about cultural understanding which is why their group was particularly thankful for the input of their resident foreign student, Patricia. So far everything was going fine. Patricia came with all the materials they needed. Hiyori had all the tools they needed and Minami and Yutaka already had drawn up the plans they needed.

They were all in Minami's room, which was big enough so that the whole banner could be spread across the floor, working on separate task. Yutaka was busy painting on some English word that she herself did not understand all that well. She has yet to learn this language at an intermediate level.

"Something the matter Kobayakawa-san?" asked Minami. Noticing her friend's plight.

"Um, what's the next character in this word, again?" she asked with a hint of embarrassment.

"The letter 'r' comes next," replied Minami.

"Uhh…'_arrrruuu_'…?"

Since she wasn't that good with English, Yutaka had to pronounce every letter of the English alphabet like it was a hiragana syllabic character.

Minami smiled back at her short friend and got up from her position and moved towards Yutaka who was obviously having trouble remembering how to write the particular letter. Minami knelt down next to Yutaka. She then reached out her hand to hold the writing hand of the shorter girl and guided her in drawing the letter 'r'.

"Here's how you do it, Kobayakawa-san," she said in a tutoring manner. "First the vertical straight line…"

Minami guided Yutaka's hand to draw a long straight vertical line. She followed up with the curve at the upper half, right side of the vertical line. Then finally they finished up with the diagonal line extending from the middle and own to the right.

Yutaka was, as always, impressed with Minami's linguistic skills "Wow, you're so good Minami-chan!" praised Yutaka.

Minami humbly returned the sentiment. "Oh, it was nothing, really."

Unbeknownst to the two teens, Hiyori was quietly watching them and in her mind…

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Minami moved to the side of her precious Yutaka-chan and gently, lovingly, placed her hand on the delicate girl's own. Together they write the letter on the large banner in front of them Yutaka was clearly enjoying the company of Minami as the shorter girl pressed herself back to feel the taller girl's warmth.

"Minami-chan…" said Yutaka softly. "You're so knowledgeable in these things. I cannot possibly compare to you."

"Do you really think so, Yutaka-chan?"

Yutaka turned her head away in mild shame. "An ignorant person like me is not worthy of your attention, Minami-chan. I feel so inadequate."

Minami lifted the shorter girl's hand from the paper. "Do not say that, Yutaka-chan. You are smart, I know you are!"

"But I…"

"Even if you feel this way, I promise to help you every step of the way."

Yutaka had a slight tear in her eye as she head this. Her heart felt like it was beating to a bursting point. "You…will?"

"Of course, I will…You are precious to me, Yutaka."

The shorter girl looked up lovingly at the taller. "Oh, Minami-chan…"

"Yutaka-chan…"

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Back in the real world.

"Hiyorin!!!" exclaimed Patricia who had just come back from the bathroom.

Hiyori snapped out of her mental delusion in time to see Patricia's face no more than a couple of inches from her own. She jumped back in surprise and had to catch her breath.

"P-P-Patty-chan!" Hiyori stammered. "I didn't notice you there."

"Huh? I called your name like three times already, Hiyorin."

"Oh…really?" Hiyori's face was turning slightly red.

Patricia raised an eyebrow and curled her lip to one side in a suspecting manner. "What were you thinking about just now?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

This slight outburst caused both Minami and Yutaka to look in the direction of Hiyori and Patricia.

"Uh, Tamura-san, Martin-san, are you guys alright?" asked Minami.

Patricia looked towards her. "I guess so."

Patricia decided to forget about the whole fiasco and looked down at the work that has been done so far. She wasn't disappointed, that's for sure.

"Wow!" she exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "You guys did wonderful work! This banner is excellent."

The other three looked at each other then at the banner and genuinely agreed to what Patricia said. They all stood up from the floor and gave the banner another look and felt a little proud about their work.

"Guess we did, do a good job, didn't we?" said Hiyori.

The rest of the girls nodded.

"Well, not that that's done, what do you all say we go get dinner already? I'm famished."

They all seemed to accept this idea and headed out towards the kitchen where a proper dinner was prepared for them. Minami evidently didn't skimp on anything when it came to her friends. The dinner that was prepared was something that one would expect to find at a five-star restaurant. This of course did a lot to impress the other three. To Yutaka particularly, she was reminded of something.

"What is it, Yutaka-chan?" asked Patricia.

"I was just thinking, that's all," she replied. "I wonder what Onee-chan is having tonight…"

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At the local cake café.

"I promise to treat you to dinner yet the only thing you want to eat for the duration of this night is cake?" asked Kirio, looking down at his plate full of sweet, similar to that of Konata's.

"I happen to know that this place makes great deserts and the price is nice too," replied Konata, downing a brownie in one bite.

Kirio sighed. The cake café was new to him. Pay for just one hour and have all the desert you can eat as long as you make sure you can actually clean your plate by the time your stay has expired. He should've known Konata better.

"Aren't you worried about gaining weight?" he asked.

"Not really."

Kirio sighed and took a bite out of a large cookie he had on his plate. "I know you want your body to grow more but I was thinking more along the vertical aspect and not the horizontal."

Konata nearly choked on the piece of cherry she was trying to swallow. "Kirio-kun!"

Kirio snickered a bit. "I'm kidding! Besides, with your athleticism, you probably have the metabolism of a gazelle. That's why you don't gain weight as often, do you."

Konata thought about this. "Hmmm, I guess that's right."

"Guess that's one thing that hasn't changed about you. Can't say the same thing for this town though."

Konata smiled at him as he looked out the window of the café into the streets. "You've been gone longer than you know, Kirio-kun."

"Kinda makes me glad you're here with me. I'm not sure if I can walk around here without getting lost. It's almost like when I landed here it was a whole different place."

"But only the city's changed, ya know? A lot has stayed the same back in near my home. Back where you used to live too."

Kirio let out a soft sigh. He thought back to earlier this day, when he met her in that playground near his old home. "That place…hasn't changed at all."

"Like my dad says sometimes, there are just some things in this world that aren't meant to change."

A moment of silence passed between the two. Kirio took a sip from the coffee he ordered to go with his plate of deserts. After setting it down, he let out a long relaxing sigh.

"Enough of all that nostalgic stuff," he said. "How have you been Kona-chan?"

"Where do you want me to start?"

"I wanna know about your friends. Have you even made any since I was gone?"

Konata looked slightly annoyed by that remark. "Of course I have!"

Kirio snickered. "Alright, tell me."

With an exasperated sigh, Konata proceeded to tell Kirio all about her friends. She started with Kagami, telling him in excrutiating, and exaggerating, detail about the twin-ponytailed girl's temper and tsundere characteristics. Then she talked about Tsukasa, and how the fact that she was such a klutz as compared to her twin that made her undeniably cute on many levels. Then, of course, there was Miyuki who Konata described simple as the human embodiment of moe. Konata seemed to enjoy her streak of friend topics as she continued to talk on about her teacher, her cousin Yui, her dad, Yutaka and her friends, plus just about everyone else worth talking about.

Kirio listened to all that she said intently. He was genuinely interested in all that she said. And, more importantly, he was genuinely happy that his dear friend has found so many people to care for and who similarly care for her in a similar manner. He was wrong about what he thought earlier. Konata had changed a bit, and it was all for the better.

"How about you, Kirio-kun?" Konata asked. "How's life in Canada?"

"Oh, not bad. It's pretty nice up there. Me and my mom even got a good place near a lake."

"I heard the school system in the west is a little different from here in Japan. Have you been coping well?"

"I do just fine, thanks. It may be different but I found out in some ways that it's a little easier to deal with. Plus the people up there are really hospitable."

"So I gather you've made quite a few friends over there?"

"Yup, pretty much."

Konata's eyes sparked. "Do they know about me?"

"About the immature, shrimpy, crybaby girl that has an unhealthy obsession to anime, manga, and games? I'm not sure. I may have mentioned you, but I don't think I gave away anything too embarassing."

Konata fumed slightly at Kirio who threw off her anger with a humored grin. "Anyway, from what I gather, You haven't told your friends about me."

Konata was about to say something when she realized that he was right so she held back. She rubbed the back of her head as if trying to look for an excuse. "Well, it's not like I wanted to keep you a secret. It's just that…"

"Just what?"

Konata was having a hard time looking for words. Kirio really didn't need to hear them as his slight smile seemed to suggest that he understood to some degree. It's not he himself told his western friends about the whole picture of Konata. She was his little secret.

At that moment. Konata's cell phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and found that it was Yutaka calling. Before answering the phone call she glanced at Kirio, then back to her phone. A thought popped into her head and when she finally decided , she turned on the loud speaker and set the phone on the table.

"Hello? Yu-chan"

"Onee-san, it's good to hear you," said Yutaka's voice, although the girl did not know that she was within hearing range of Kirio, who was flashing a curious look towards Konata who simply winked back. The cell phone's volume was set so that Only Konata and Kirio could hear the conversation and no one else I the café could.

"What's up?" asked Konata.

"I just wanted to check if you wear okay. I mean, Uncle Sōjirō told me that he would be staying at his editor's place when I called him. You must be home alone."

"No, I'm fine. I'm not even at home."

"Really?"

"It was a nice afternoon so I decided to look around town."

"Are you with Kagami-chan and the others?"

"No, I'm not. but it's cool. I'm with Kirio-kun after all."

"Oh, I see…um…who's Kirio?"

"My date for the night." Across from her, Kirio raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I see…" Yutaka paused for a while. "…your _what?!_"

Konata stifled a laugh. "Say hello to Yu-chan, Kirio-kun!"

Kirio leaned forward towards the phone on the table. "Hello, Yu-chan."

Yutaka stammered. "But…how?...who…I don't…"

"Well, thanks for calling, Yu-chan!" cut off Konata. "I'll just see you in school tomorrow. Bye!"

Konata ended the call before Yutaka could say anything else. She then looked up at Kirio who still had an eyebrow raised. "Date?"

"Never mind about that. Just eat your cake before our time runs out!"

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Author's Note: Some stuff got in the way so I wasn't able to update as fast as I wanted. I also have another fic in the works so that might cut into my work on this. However, since I'm getting a lot of reviews, I'll try to keep up with this story so as not to disappoint you guys. Thanks for all the feedback. I'll also try to correct some of the mistakes you guys pointed out from the previous chapters. Pls. continue to R&R!


	5. K and the mystery of the choco cornet

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the show. Don't sue me, please!

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Morning the next day.

It was lunch time again and the gang of four where once again seated together in Kuroi-sensei's classroom eating their respective lunch. It was Friday already and they were all eager to get the day over with. However there was still a few periods and the mandatory club meetings after lunch that needed to be taken care off so nobody was in a hurry even if they wanted to be.

"Finally, it's the weekend again," said Kagami. "I can't wait for tomorrow to come."

"It will finally give us some free time to go to that amusement park we were talking about before," added Tsukasa.

"Is that all that you've been waiting for ? Man, you're so childish sometimes, Tsukasa."

Tsukasa giggled bashfully. "Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes."

"It is in Tsukasa-san's nature to be like that," said Miyuki.

"That's true enough," concurred Kagami. "Ain't that right, Konata?"

Konata didn't answer.

"Hoy, Konata?" asked Kagami again.

They all turned too look and found Konata to be ignoring them. However, her unusual position did not go unnoticed to her friends. Konata was not seated properly on her chair and was instead squatting near the edge of the chair so that her chin almost touched her knees. She had one hand cupping her knee while the other hand was delicately holding up a chocolate cornet between her thumb and index finger only. She was also intensely staring at it as if she was analyzing it thoroughly, with her head only slightly tilted to one side.

Her three friends sweat-dropped at the sight of this.

"Eh…Kona-chan?" spoke up Tsukasa. "What are you doing."

"Trying to solve a mystery," replied Konata with a monotonously deep voice.

"Uh, mystery?"

"One that has been plaguing mankind for quite some time now.

"Um, which mystery is that?"

"The mystery of whether he thinner part or the thicker part of the chocolate cornet is the head."

Her friends sweat-dropped a bit more.

"This mystery cannot be solved by just any person. It is up to me, the one the world knows simply as "K" to finally make a conclusion."

"Hoy, aren't you acting a little weird?" asked Kagami.

"Though you say such things, I have almost figured out which part of a chocolate cornet is actually the head."

Her three friends sweat-dropped even more.

"Um, haven't we discussed this multiple times in the past already?" asked Miyuki.

"Yes, we have. But only now can I have a full understanding of why I think one side is the head or not. It is logical to think that the thinner part is the head because that is what most people would be inclined to bit first bite first in a cornet. And though Tsukasa-chan may have once said that the thinner part is the head because the cornet resembles a seashell, this is a fallacy since one cannot justly compare a sweet with a seashell. Alternatively, the thicker part may indeed be known as the head since this is where the concentration of the chocolate filling is found. Also, cornet is derived from the British synonym for the ice cream cone and the thicker part of the cone is always facing up."

Her friends sweat-dropped a little bit more.

"Kona-chan," said Tsukasa, "do you think you can really conclude something from all that analyzing?"

"I have to solve this mystery, Tsukasa-san. My reputation as the worlds greatest detective hangs in the balance."

"Um…I see."

Kagami lightly slapped her head in frustration. She was doing it again.

"What do you think, Kagami-san?" asked Konata as she flashed Kagami with a suspicious look.

"Eh? Why are you asking me?" asked Kagami, feeling a bit annoyed.

"Even though I have my suspicions of you, Kagami-san, I seem to have no choice but to ask you since I wish to evaluate you by your reactions to my questions. Now, tell me, do you think the thicker part is the head or not?"

"Suspicions?"

"Right now, my suspicions of you not believing that the thicker part of the cornet is the head are…roughly 10 percent, Kagami-san. But until that reaches 0 percent, I cannot clear you of my suspicions."

A vein popped on Kagami's forehead. "You've been reading _Death Note_ again, haven't you, Konata?"

"Oh, Kagami-san is indeed as smart and perceptive as I had imagined. It would seem that you are the most qualified person to continue the legacy of "K" when my time comes."

"Will you knock it off already?!"

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Later that afternoon.

The rest of the school day went by quickly. The girls had finished up their classes and respective club activities so they were now free for the day and for the weekend. So now, Miyuki, Yutaka, and the Hiiragi twins were on their way home to enjoy what was left of their Friday. Konata wasn't present as she asked to be excused and left early during the club meetings. She told her club mates she'd make up for it later.

It was outside the school and the multitude of the student body were all walking out of the buildings in groups of friends, and sometimes even in pairs. The four girls were on their way towards the gate.

"Glad to get this day over with," said Kagami with a sigh of relief. "Now I can just go home and relax for the afternoon. Maybe I'll play some shooters to help me relax. Wanna challenge me, Tsukasa?"

"Eh?" Tsukasa yelped slightly. "No way. Onee-chan is to good for me to beat."

"But it's more fun playing with another person. Both Inori and Matsuri don't want to take me on either."

"Why don't you ask Misao-chan and Ayano-chan to play with you later. They are coming over later on, right?"

Kagami thought about it and realized that she was right. Her two friends from her class, Misao and Ayano were coming over again to their place to discuss club related things. So much for relaxing at home, it looked like there was still a few moe things to do today after all.

"Well, Ayano isn't all that into gaming. And while I can definitely take on Misao, she takes away all the fun out of winning."

"That's because only Kona-chan can take on Onee-chan when it comes to games."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

The four girls walked a bit in silence before Kagami spoke up again. "Say, where is Konata?"

"Oh, Onee-chan went home early today," answered Yutaka.

"What? Honestly, that girl can be so irresponsible. She should look after you as you go home, Yutaka-chan."

"Oh, don't worry about her, Kagami-san," said Miyuki. "Yutaka chan will be going home with me today."

"Really? Why?"

"Apparently, her group is still not done with their project for their class so she'll be sleeping over at Minami-san's place again."

"Oh. That's cool I guess."

"Besides, I wouldn't want to be a bother to Onee-chan today," said Yutaka.

"Is Kona-chan busy with something?" asked Tsukasa.

"No, not really. But I wouldn't want to impede on her since she's spending the rest of the day with Kirio-kun."

"Oh, I see….Who's Kirio-kun?"

"Onee-chan's date," replied Yutaka matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I see," said Tsukasa.

"How, nice for Konata," added Kagami.

"Yes, indeed," concurred Miyuki.

As the four girls walked on, a slight breeze blew across the school courtyard, kicking up the fallen leaves into beautiful spiraling flights. The sky was clear and the afternoon sun shined brightly down into the school. The air was alive with the soft sounds of the wind and the mixed pleasant chats of friendliness of the people around. It was like a scene straight out of a haiku. Everything was calm and peaceful—

"HE'S KONATA'S _WHAT_?!" exclaimed all three of the third-year high-school students towards Yutaka who jumped back in shock.

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Somewhere else.

"Achoo!" Kirio sneezed.

"What is it, Kirio-kun?" asked Konata. "You're not catching a cold, are you?"

Kirio sniffed his nose as he wiped it with a handkerchief. "I hope not."

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At the Izumi household.

Sōjirō was relaxing in the living room in front of the TV watching some cheesy detective show. Alone at home, he didn't feel like doing much of anything. He momentarily considered going to the computer and playing some dating-sims but soon decided that he was just not in the mood. After an intense overnighter at his editor's place, Sōjirō was feeling a little lazy. So he simply sat there on the floor in is casual yukata.

That's when the doorbell rang.

Sōjirō groaned as he got up from the floor and wobbled to the door. He hoped it wasn't some solicitor again. He took so long getting to the door that the person outside rang the doorbell a second time.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming already," called out Sōjirō.

He reached the door and opened it. Standing just outside his door was a middle-aged woman who was in her late-thirties. But her physique would lead one to believe that she was at least five years younger than that. She was an average build, around five feet in height. She was dressed in a pair of slim-fitting jeans, a white blouse with a blue denim jacket over it, and a pair of sandals. Her face had soft features of a young woman and she also had short brown hair

"Well, hello there Sōjirō," said the woman. "how have you been, lately?"

Sōjirō raised an eyebrow to the woman. For some reason she seemed familiar but Sōjirō just can't seem to put his finger on it.

"Ummm…do I know you?" he asked.

The woman put on an annoyed face. In the flash of a second, she charged in and put Sōjirō in a headlock. Sōjirō was now at her mercy all of a sudden. Again, very familiar.

"Hey, don't tell me you already forgot about me, Sōjirō," said the woman. "It's only been a few years, you know. I even came back all the way from Canada just to see you guys again."

Something in those patter of word triggered something else in Sōjirō's memory. At first he couldn't believe it but eventually the reality of it all hit him smack in the face. This woman, he knew her better that he thought.

"Tomoyo?!" he asked her while still gasping for air.

The woman smiled and finally let go of her chokehold. "Ah, I'm glad you finally remembered who I am, Sōjirō."

Sōjirō had to brush his neck to relieve some of the irritation then he looked up to the woman standing in front of him. There was no longer any doubt in his mind as to who this person was. His neighbor from all those years ago who moved away to the west, Tomoyo Sato.

"My, word, it really is you, isn't it, Tomoyo?"

"of course it is, you dummy!" replied the woman in mock anger. "Well aren't you gonna let me in?"

"Huh? Oh! Of course, come in. I'll make you some tea."

"That's more like it."

A little later, Tomoyo was in the living room, sitting on the floor over a cushion, and drinking a cup of freshly made tea Sōjirō had prepared for them. She took the cup and gave a couple of blows to cool the drink down a bit. Then she took a long sip and let the warm drink sooth her throat. She drank nearly half the cup's worth before setting the cup back down on the table. Tomoyo then let out a relaxed sigh of satisfaction.

"Man, it's been so long since I had some old fashioned home-made tea like this." She commented.

"Don't they have those in Canada?" asked Sōjirō.

"Not really. In the restaurants they do, but something about making them in a home just makes the tea tastes better, don't you think?"

"I don't see the difference."

"Well I can't really expect some dirty old man like you to understand such fine things."

A vein popped-up on Sōjirō's temple. "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

Tomoyo smirked. "Even if I won't say it, it's still true."

"It's comments like that that give my daughter a bad impression about me."

"I don't think Konata needs me to show that you're just a dirty old man, Sōjirō."

"Oh, just shut up, already."

Tomoyo flashed him a humored smile and resumed to drink her tea. Sōjirō seemed to have taken no offense to her slight teasing. They've been doing this since they've first met all those years ago. The two old friends continued to talk about times gone by up to he present.

Sōjirō remembered almost everything about her. Back then she was a practicing pro-wrestler making her easily the most intimidating woman Sōjirō has ever met. She quite the business when her son started schooling and she settled down in their small little town spending her days working as a part-time fitness instructor. It was later when she would make it big in that line of work that she was offered a higher job abroad. Back then, she and her son really needed it since at the time she was actually loosing cash. So they had no choice but to move to the west. A choice that none of them liked to make.

Now things were a little better. Financial problems were a thing of the past for her and she had more than enough in the bank for her son to live off on until he was forty. She still worked as a fitness instructor but instead of simply working for the gym she herself owned the gym, and a few others.

"By the way," asked Tomoyo. "How is your daughter? Has she grown up yet?"

Instead of answering her directly, Sōjirō moved to a nearby drawer and pulled a small, framed picture frame from the top of it. "Here you go," said Sōjirō as he handed Tomoyo the picture.

Tomoyo examined the photo. It was a picture of four girls taking a fieldtrip in Kyoto. She recognized the shortest among the girls. One look and Tomoyo couldn't help but smile.

"She hasn't grown that much I see," she said. "She's still the _chiisai kitsune _that I remember."

"She never did get used to that nickname you gave her."

"It still suits her though. Man, she's cute for a high school student."

"That reminds me…How's Kirio?"

Tomoyo flashed him a smile. "Oh, why the sudden interest in my son?"

"Konata has never been late getting home on a Friday on the count of that her favorite afternoon anime airs close to this time. I'm suspecting that you're son is the only reason why she shouldn't be here yet."

"My, you're a perceptive one, Sōjirō."

"Well, it's alright. At least I know Kirio-kun."

"Well, if you want to learn more about him, I'd be happy to oblige. As long as you tell me more about Konata-chan. I like to know more about how's she's been too."

"Deal."

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Somewhere else.

"Achoo!" Konata sneezed.

The blue-haired girl sniffed then wiped her nose but this turned out to be a costly mistake on her part. With her fingers off the buttons and joy stick, Kirio took this opportunity to execute a finishing move with a few button mashes and quick turns of the stick in order to bring Konata's virtual character down to its knees. By the time Konata was able to concentrate again, she had already lost the game.

On the other side of the game cabinet, Kirio raised his hands in victory. He may have admitted that Konata was better at him at certain types of games but _Marvel vs. Capcom 2_ wasn't one of them. Behind him and Konata, a growing audience of arcade goers was applauding.

"Looks like I win again, Kona-chan," he said.

Konata was fussing. "No fair! I sneezed at that time!"

"That's no excuse!"

"C'mon. Best eight out of fifteen!"

"Fine, but you'll never learn…"

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Author's note: Here's another chapter down. Stay tuned for more and I promise I'll update as soon as I can. In the meantime, Pls. R&R!

Other notes: In case you didn't get the joke in the first part, Konata was parodying Death Note as she was emulating the character of L. The show didn't parody this particular title as it did with other famous titles so I decided to do it myself.


	6. Some memories and another dinner

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

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At the Hiiragi household.

Ayano and Misao came by the house as planned that night to discuss with Kagami various school and club related issues. Tsukasa, though not really part of the grouping, also joined in just to keep the atmosphere pleasant. Something Kagami wasn't helping at. Throughout the whole thing Kagami seemed to have one expression on her face. Her brow seemed to be permanently furrowed and there was a slightly noticeable scowl on her mouth.

The meeting was fairly productive and the group got some good ideas talked about and already drew up some good plans but the one thing prevailing throughout that whole night was the sense that Kagami was a little ticked off at something. Ayano, Misao, and Tsukasa all noticed this soon enough but shoes to ignore it and hoped that it will go away by the time the meeting was over.

As the girls were finishing up their talks three of them, Kagami, Misao, and Ayano, were in the twin's room and were seated on the floor around the table amidst some paper work. After they finished with their work, Misao and Ayano breathed a sigh of relief and laid back onto the floor. Kagami on the other hand kept her erect sitting position and stared blankly at the far wall.

Tsukasa came in a few seconds later carrying a tray, which had a pitcher of soda and four glasses. "Does anyone need a drink?"

"Here!" Misao replied cheerfully, getting up off the floor.

Ayano also sat back up. "I think I'll have a drink too."

"What about you, Onee-chan?" asked Tsukasa turning to Kagami.

The girl didn't reply.

Tsukasa, along with the other two girls, was curious about this but shrugged it off momentarily as she served Misao and Ayano their drinks. Tsukasa then poured Kagami a glass and offered it to her.

"Here you go. Onee-chan," she said merrily.

Kagami reached one hand out, grabbed the glass, put it to her mouth, and drank the whole glass in one single go, all without moving anything else but that one arm.

Tsukasa, Misao, and Ayano all sweat-dropped. Tsukasa put on a cheerful face but slowly backed away.

Misao moved over to Ayano and whispered. "Hey, what do you think is up with Kagami?"

"Um, I'm not really sure," answered Misao.

They both turned to Tsukasa who seemed to have an equal look of confusion. "Maybe one of you guys should ask her," suggested Tsukasa.

Misao immediately waved her hands in protest. "No way! The way Kagami looks, it like she could bite my head off."

"Kagami is pretty dangerous in situations like these," commented Ayano.

"Yeah, yeah. Remember that time in middle school?"

"We had to replace all the windows in our classroom."

Tsukasa sweat-dropped. Now she knew her sister well but she will admit that there are things about Kagami that she didn't know but Misao and Ayano knew. Kagami, Misao and Ayano have been classmates for a long time now so they were quite close friends.

"Still, we can't let things stay this way," said Tsukasa. She turned to her sister, still staring blankly into the wall.

"Yes, we can," said Misao. "Haven't you heard of the expression "let sleeping dogs lie"?"

"But I am also curious, Misao-chan," said Ayano.

Misao grumbled. The other two sighed in slight frustration. The three girls looked at each other than at Kagami then at each other again. For a while nobody said anything about who will be the first to ask Kagami what was wrong. Eventually, the three girls seemed to decide on something silently and the nodded in agreement.

"_Janken-pon_" exclaimed the three girls.

All three girls threw their fist forward. Misao threw _Choki_ (scissors) while both Ayano and Tsukasa threw _Guu_. (rock). Misao lost.

"Aww man!" fussed Misao.

Nevertheless, Misao had to be the one to go to Kagami and ask. She felt like a sacrificial lamb at that point. Misao moved cautiously like a hunter staking its prey except it seemed that it was Misao that was in danger here.

"Ehhh…Kagami, are you okay--"

"Why? Why?! WHY?!!" Kagami suddenly burst out.

Misao jumped back. The other two girls cringed.

"Uh…why what, Kagami?"

"Why is that bumbling idiot able to get a guy before me? How come I can't even get a guy to give me a card on valentines? Plus, she's the one who's always complaining about lack of romance around us and yet she's hogging some guy all to herself? That's just not fair, Konata-chan!"

Misao and Ayano exchanged confused looks.

"What exactly do you mean, Kagami?" asked Ayano.

"It's probably someone like her," said Kagami, ignoring her two friends. "Someone she met online or something. He's probably also crazy about anime and RPGs. That wouldn't be surprising at all. I mean, Konata has a one-track mind and it only makes sense that the person she goes out with also has the same mindset as her."

"Are talking about somebody's boyfriend or something?" asked Misao, getting slightly annoyed.

"What about me? I'm smart! Heck, I'm the top of my class! I work out sometimes and I haven't gained that much weight! In fact, I'm dieting! But even after all that, not one guy has even looked shy around me. How come? What makes that anime and RPG maniac better than me!?…maybe that guy is a lolicon or something."

"Hoy, Hiiragi," said Misao, getting a bit more annoyed, "why don't you calm down already. You're starting to bug me."

"She's right, Kagami-chan," concurred Ayano. "No need to get worked up over a little thing like this."

"Am I really that unattractive? Is there something about me that scares away guys? I mean it can't be true, what Konata said about me. That I have some kind of aura that repels boys or something. No way! If anything I have a better chance of nailing a guy than her. So what If not that good with housework or that I'm that skinny as those stupid models in TV commercials. I'm still a pretty decent girl! Why won't anyone hit on me or ask me out?!"

By now, Misao was very annoyed. "Oh, will you stop complaining already! Maybe it's because you're such a whiner like this that guys are actually scared of you. I mean you do sort of come off as a bit hostile. You have a short temper, you lack style, and you brood too much!"

_Snap_

It took only two seconds for Misao to realize her mistake. All the light in the room seemed to fade and the only thing that became visible was the glowing red aura coming from Kagami who turned towards Misao and pierced her soul with a devil's stare. Misao started to back away towards one corner of the room where Ayano and Tsukasa were already at.

"Short temper?..." slurred Kagami as she stood up off the floor.

The three girls dug deeper into the corner where they were shivering in fear.

"Lack style?..." Kagami took a step forward ans her red aura seemed to absorb all the remaining light of the room.

All three of the girls swallowed nervously. Sweat was pouring down their temples.

"Brood too much?..." Kagami was standing over them now.

They seem to plead with their eyes. "Um…Kagami, calm down please," said Ayano.

"Yeah, Onee-chan, we're all friends here right?" said Tsukasa.

"No need to be hostile," the moment she said that, Misao instantly noticed that she made another mistake and she shut her mouth with her palm. But it was too little too late.

"Hostile?..." slurred Kagami. "I'll show you _hostile!!!_"

The three girls screamed in terror.

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At the old playground.

"Did you hear something?" asked Konata looking up into the sky, suddenly alert. She slowly swung back and forth on the swing set where she was seated. Kirio was seated on the other swing only a few feet away from hers.

"I don't hear anything," replied Kirio.

"Are you sure? It sounded like a cry for help from three helpless girls as they are about to be devoured by some unholy demon."

Kirio sweat-dropped. "I don't even want to know where you got that from."

"Well never mind." Konata turned back to Kirio. "So how long are you gonna stay here?"

"Not long now," replied Kirio. "We're due to fly back on Sunday."

"Awww, so soon?"

"Can't help it. Business thing. Mom's pretty big with her gyms there now so she has to manage all that. Plus I gotta go back to school next week. Our short vacation is almost over."

Konata had a genuine look of disappointment.

Kirio smiled as if appealed by this. "Missing me already?"

"Nah, why would I? All you do is make fun of my height. You've been doing it ever since we were kids."

"It's not like I made you cry."

Konata seemed humored, a small smile gracing her lips. "I'm done crying remember. I got you to thank for that."

"So you still remember that time?"

"Of course, I do."

"I wonder how you would've turned out if I hadn't come along."

"Hmm, I don't really think about that. Maybe because I don't wanna know. All I know is I much rather prefer the way I turned out. I'd hate to see what I would be like if I didn't decide to stop crying."

"You'd probably turn into those cutesy type girls that guys are so crazy about. Too bad, you could've nailed more dates."

Kirio meant is as a tease to Konata. But Konata wasn't reacting the way he expected. Instead of acting angry at him like usual, she seemed thoughtful.

"No way. I wouldn't want that," said Konata with resolve. "I'd never want to turn into that type of girl. I can take care of myself just fine. I even have a job you know. I don't care if those kinds of girls attract more guys. I'd rather be like this than be a weepy little prune."

Kirio looked proud. "Guess I did you a bigger favor than I thought."

"I guess I never paid you back properly huh?"

"Oh, no way. You did plenty for me back then too. If you haven't noticed I wasn't all that popular back then either. I was never much for the mainstream crowd so I had trouble getting along with other people. I never really made a close friend until I met you, Kona-chan."

"Awww, how sweet."

Kirio knew she was being sarcastic but it made him laugh nonetheless. "You really were my the first person I could get along with. Everyone else was more or less just like an acquaintance."

"I guess it was the same with me."

"But you have plenty of great friends now. You're lucky that you found a bunch of people that will actually tolerate your obsessions to anime and all."

"How come my liking anime and manga has to be a bad point. Why can't it be my appeal or something."

"Over-obsession over fictional works is not appealing. I bet you cosplay as a job, don't you?"

Konata choked. "Stop over-analyzing me already!"

"So who do you cosplay as?"

"What?"

"I was right about you cosplaying for your job right? Who's your character? I really wanna know."

Konata felt herself blush a bit. She found that strange. She was never embarrassed by the fact that she cosplayed. But she couldn't explain why she felt this way in front of Kirio.

"Well?" he pressed.

"Haruhi Suzumiya," she finally admitted.

Kirio let this information sink in and put his hand up to his chin in a thoughtful expression. Konata felt a little bit more embarrassed about this. Was he comparing her to the anime character and seeing if they were truly alike or something?

"W-What? What is it, Kirio-kun? You think that doesn't suit me?"

"I can't tell. I have no idea who Haruhi Suzumiya is."

Konata nearly fell off the swing.

But," continued Kirio, "I'm sure you look good as her anytime."

Konata felt herself blush a bit more. Kirio saw this and laughed to himself about it. She looked cute when she blushed and it was quite rare when she did blush. Even though the first memory of her he had was mostly her blushing, she seemed to have gotten rid of that habit as she grew up. Probably his fault too but he wasn't ashamed of it. He looked up at the sky and noticed that the sky was getting darker. It was probably around seven by then.

"it's getting late," he said out of the blue. "I'll walk you home."

Konata gave a wry smile. "Oh, you're walking me home now?"

"It would be rude if I just left you here. Beside, who was it that said I was who's date?"

Konata blushed again, remembering what she said to her little cousin the other night on the phone. Kirion laughed it off.

"Forget about it. Let's go before you're dad starts to hunt me down."

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Minutes later.

Being that they were so close, it only took them about five minutes to reach Konata's house. Kirio took her as far as right at the front door before Konata turned to him.

"So where are you going back to?"

"I'll catch a cab back to my hotel," said Kirio.

"What'll you're mom say when you get back so late? Aren't you worried?"

"Nah. She's never scolded me for being late before."

Out of nowhere the front door of the Izumi household burst open to reveal Kirio's mom, Tomoyo. "Where have you been, boy? You're late!"

Both Konata and Kirio jumped back in surprise.

"Mom?" said Kirio.

"Mrs. Sato?" said Konata.

"Me and Sōjirō have been setting dinner all this time so we could all have a little catch-up on old times. Just the four of us. After all, it's been a while since we've seen each other Kona-chan. I'd like to know what you've been up to all this time. But Kirio seems to be hogging you all to himself."

Konata blushed a bit. So did Kirio. "You know, mom. You could've told me you were coming here."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you guys."

"Mission accomplished, Mrs. Sato," said Konata.

"Well, never mind about all that. Let's save the rest of the conversation for later. C'mon get in already while the food's still warm!"

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Author's note: Sorry for the long time it took me to update. Had waaaay too many stuff in the way. Pls. R&R in the mean time and hopefully I can get the next chapter up a little quicker.

Other notes: Janken is the Japanese form of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The mechanics work the same where p[layers throw their hands when somebody shouts "Janken-po" and the names of the symbols are Guu (rock), Choki (scissors), and Paa (paper).


	7. Opening acts, plus some noodles

Disclaimer: One more I say: I don't own jack!

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Saturday Afternoon.

That ever anticipated day of the week has finally arrived. The day when a young person can take a break from schoolwork and just let loose. That reason being the primary reason why the local traveling amusement park that made a stop by this town decided to open on this very day. It was still early in the day, just before lunchtime, but the atmosphere was already busy with tons of folks setting up rides, sceneries and a fairy large stage for a variety show later on that night. Everything was going well.

Well, _almost_ everything.

Behind the stage, if one were to listen carefully...well, one really didn't need to listen that carefully since this argument could be heard from space.

"What do you mean I'm just an opening act?!" exclaimed Akira

"You're not an opening act!" replied Minoru. "You just happen to be going before Ms. Hirano. It's a variety show so, that doesn't make you an opening act in the technical sense."

"What are you talking about?! That's as good as making me the opening act!"

"This is not Ms. Hirano's show. For that matter, It's not _you're_ show either!!"

"What? I'm not saying that!""You're not saying it, alright. You're _screaming_ it!"

"You're just saying that because you go on before me."

"Oh, c'mon. All you have to do is sing. I have to sing _and_ dance! Not to mention I still have to emcee a few other events after this."

"What do you mean, just sing? This isn't just any song; it's supposed to be my next breakthrough single."

"Breakthrough what? The charts or the audience's ears?"

"You're jealous because you're _my_ opening act!"

"There are no opening acts in a variety show!!"

"Stop screaming at me you idiot!""You stop screaming you washed-up hag!"

"Hag?! I'm barely twenty!"

"The way you're acting, no one would ever think that!"

Akira was fuming. "Jerk!"

Minoru was fuming right back. "Tramp!"

A woman with light brown, short hair, glasses and a long white lab gown suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Am I interrupting something?"

Both Akira and Minoru turned to her and exclaimed: "Yes!!"

It took about two seconds before the two teens to realize that they were yelling at Hikaru Sakuraba, who aside from being one of Ryōō Gakuen High School's biology teachers was also Akira and Minoru's stage manager.Both teens straitened up and bowed their head in apology. "Sorry, sensei!"

Ms. Sakuraba sighed and ribbed her head in frustration. "Look here you two. Both of you are talented enough to get your own shows on your own time, believe me. But right now I need you two to work together to make this show a success. I don't need any of your complexes until we're done here, got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" they both answered.

"Good. Now I suggest you two go get lunch. It's almost noon."

Ms Sakuraba then promptly left the two to themselves to go do something else more important. Minoru and Akira slowly turned their heads to face each other and as soon as the make eye contact they turn away from each other in contempt. A moment later they look over their shoulders at each other. They didn't move or say anything for about ten seconds of or so.

"So…you wanna get lunch?" suddenly asked Minoru.

"…Sure," said Akira.

They both head off to a nearby eatery together and leave the back stage area a lot quieter than a minute ago.

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Later that afternoon.

With the rides and attractions all set up, people started pouring in. Mostly, it was little kids with their families who were here to enjoy the attractions. But there were groups of teens as well. Some people came in pairs. After all a place like this was a good place to get to know one's significant other.

At the eatery, a large open space where a number of tables were surrounded by over a dozen stalls of food, was understandably one of the most crowded place in the whole park. It would most likely stay that way for the rest of the afternoon. Konata and Kirio were seated one of the tables, each eating a plate of spaghetti and drinking a can of soda.

Konata took a long sip of her soda. "Ahhh, man I'm pretty thirsty tonight!"

"After all that screaming at that karaoke place a while ago, I'm not too surprised," said Kirio.

Konata rubbed the back of her head while blushing slightly. "Well, I can get pretty heated at that sort of thing."

"Beside, all you kept singing were anime tracks."

"How would you know? You were never much into anime, Kirio-kun."

"Maybe, but I happen to be a big fan of _Voltes__ V_."

"Oh. I forgot about that."

"You sang pretty decently at some songs though. I never knew you could sing _Koko __ni__ Iru__ kara_ that well. And for some reason, I'm not all that surprised that it suits you."

"And I didn't know you could sing _Kama __ga__ Iru_ so well either."

"What can I say? I like cars and tofu."

Kirio took a sip from his soda. Konata wanted to switch topics for a while.

"So, Kirio," started Konata, "how's your love life so far?"

Kirio nearly choked on his drink. "Where did that question come from?"

"I'm just curious."

"Can I ask you the same question?"

"No!!"

Kirio was humored. "Nothing to say on the subject, huh?"

Konata blushed and fiddled with her spaghetti. Kirio simply smiled wryly, thinking how cute she looked right then and there.

"A couple of girls here and there," Kirio answered.

Konata looked up with what looked like an expression of slight disappointment.

"But nothing serious," Kirio casually continued. "I was never able to find anybody who I can take seriously."

"Why?" asked Konata.

"None of them were short enough."

Konata was confused for a few seconds but blushed bright red when realization het her. Kirio had a hardy laugh at this reaction.

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Meanwhile, three tables away.

Miyuki and Kagami were sitting at a table together. Miyuki, being her cheerful, moe-ish, self while Kagami was slightly brooding.

"Isn't this nice, Kagami-chan?" asked Miyuki.

"I guess," said Kagami, not really in a good mood after what happened the night before.

"You should relax more, Kagami. Why do you think Tsukasa-chan and I brought you here?"

"Sure. I guess I should be more appreciative for you guys. I should just try clear my mind for the night."

Just then, Tsukasa appeared carrying a tray of food for three. "How are you guys doing?" she asked merrily.

"Just fine," replied Miyuki.

"How about you, Onee-chan?"

"Better, I guess," said Kagami. "I think the fresh air is doing wonders for me. At least in a place like this I don't have to think about Konata and her stupid date, whoever he is."

Tsukasa sweat-dropped, remembering last night. She started to set the tray down on the table. "Well, I'm not sure what Konata might say to that, but I guess it's nice for you that Kona-chan isn't herrrreeee-eeee-ee-EEEEEE!!"

Tsukasa's glance went past Kagami to what was behind her and saw the familiar figure of Konata and a boy three tables away, happily chatting with each other. Konata and the boy was seated at an angle so that Konata had her back to them but Tsukasa could still recognize her profile. After all, that long flowing hair, short stature, and mole were unmistakable.

Tsukasa nearly dropped the tray onto the table. Kagami raised an eye-brow. "Tsukasa, is something wrong?"

For the briefest moment, Tsukasa had a flash back to the previous night. "No! Nothing's wrong, Onee-chan! Nothing at all!"

"…You're acting pretty weird."

"Am I?" said Tsukasa as she nervously tried to laugh of her older sister's comments. She finally set down the tray and distributed the food, ramen noodles for all. Tsukasa took her seat nervously giggling. This made both Miyuki and Kagami rather curious and worried.

"So how was your day, Onee-chan," said Tsukasa trying to break the ice.

"What do you mean? You were with me the whole day."

"Oh right! I forgot!"

"Did you hit your head on something?"

"No, I'm fine really!" she started taking huge mouthfuls of her ramen.

Kagami was getting a little freaked out but decided to concentrate on her food for the moment, turning away her sight from Tsukasa to the bowl of food in front of her. Miyuki took this time to try and find out what was going on with her friend. Miyuki gave Tsukasa a questioning look and before Miyuki could say anything, Tsukasa made some gestures to point behind Kagami.

Miyuki looked behind Kagami and spotted Konata having a spoonful of spaghetti being fed to her by some boy. This sight caused Miyuki to squeak in surprise. This squeak caugt Kagami's attention and the girl quickly turned to Miyuki.

"What is it?" asked Kagami.

"Miyuki statured. Tsukasa answered for her. "Um, a moth flew in front of her and she just got surprised by it, that's all."

"Huh?" said Miyuki towards Tsukasa. "…Oh! Yeah, that's right! A moth…"

"Is that so?" said Kagami. "I don't see any moths."

Kagami started turning her head to look around. Tsukasa and Miyuki almost panicked, waving their hands just in time to get back Kagami's attention before she was able to look behind her.

"Don't worry about it!" exclaimed Miyuki.

"The moth has already flown away!" added Tsukasa.

Kagami sweat-dropped. "What's with you two tonight?"

The two girls laughed nervously and returned to their ramen noodles. Kagami decided to jus shrug it off and return to her meal herself. She noticed that the taste was a little bland for her. "Hmm, needs some soy sauce," she said.

Kagami looked at the table they were sitting at and found that there was no soy sauce there. She probably got used to proper eateries with condiments at each table. She remembered that the stalls themselves kept some condiments on the counter for customers to use. She started to get up off her seat. Upon seeing this, Tsukasa jumped from her seat so fast that the seat fell down to the pavement, catching Miyuki and Kagami by surprise.

"W-Where are you going, Onee-chan?!" asked Tsukasa.

"To get some soy sauce…" answered Kagami. "…Why?"

"Um, why don't I get it for you so that you don't have to get up?"

"It's perfectly fine. I can get it myself." Kagami started to turn around.

Tsukasa suddenly pointed at a random direction away from where Konata was seated. "Look! It's Emiri Katō!"

"Huh? Where?"

Kagami turned to where Tsukasa was pointing but found no one there that resembled the girl she mentioned. Kagami turned to Tsukasa but she was no longer at the spot where she was standing only a second ago. Kagami then turned around to look behind her—

"Here you go, Onee-chan!!"

Kagami nearly jumped back when she found Tsukasa standing so close to her that she completely filled her view. Tsukasa was panting as if she just ran a marathon as she was holding out a small bottle of soy sauce in her hands. Kagami sweat-dropped a lot and went wide-eyed.

"What is going on here?!" asked Kagami.

Miyuki stood up to try and help the situation. "Um, Tsukasa just wants to be helpful, Kagami-chan."

By now, Kagami was too suspicious to just brush this off. Kagami tried looking over Tsukasa's shoulder but Tsukasa bent her body to continuously block Kagami's view of whatever's behind her. Kagami turned the other way and Tsukasa simply followed, all while maintaining a goofy smile on her face which was driving Kagami up the wall.

Kagami started leaning back towards the other side. Tsukasa had to follow. Kagami kept leaning until she went far enough and quickly snapped back unexpectedly. Tsukasa couldn't keep up and instead fell to the ground, leaving Kagami's view clear.

Tsukasa quickly got up and started apologizing. "I'm sorry, Onee-chan! Please forgive me!"

Miyuki followed suit. "Yes, we're sorry!"

"About what? I don't see anything."

Tsukasa and Miyuki quickly turned around to see that the table occupied by Konata and that boy just a while ago was now empty. They both sweat-dropped then creathed a sigh of relief.

"Was there something there that I wasn't suppose to see," said Kagami giving the two a suspicious look. The other two girls simply laughed nervously with sweat running down their brows. Kagami decided to simply ignore it otherwise she'll just end up giving herself another headache.

"You know what, just forget it!"

Kagami made a motion to sit back down. Tsukasa and Miyuki breathe another sigh of relief as for now they seemed to have averted disaster. Tsukasa looked back to the table where she saw Konata to make sure that the two were really gone. All she saw were their empty plates of food. She mentally thanked the gods of fortune for this turn of events. It was a good thing they were this lucky tonight and that they were able to avoid—

"Hey, guys, what's up?" greeted Konata who was suddenly standing right next to the table where the three girls were at.

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Author's note: Writer's block is a real pain in the ass, ya know? Well, I got this done anyway. Please R&R while I work on the next one. Cioa!

Other Notes: There were two songs mentioned here. _Koko __ni __Iru __kara _is the ending theme of the anime _Girls Bravo (season 1)_. _Kama __ga__ Iru_ is the ending theme for the anime _Initial D: Second Stage_ which is the key to Kirio's comment about liking cars and tofu. The person Tsukasa was referring to, _Emiri __Katō_, is the voice actor of Kagami in the anime.


	8. Mascots and overdressed Shinobi

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing these guys.

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Elsewhere at the amusement park.

"What a nice atmosphere this place has!" said Tomoyo taking in the sights of the park. She was dressed casually and looked five years younger than her actual age. Her short hair was tied into a ponytail that made her look like a teen.

"You've been saying that for the past ten minutes," said Sōjirō a little bit annoyed at Tomoyo's excitement which he hardly shared.

He would rather be at home at that moment. His favorite drama was about to play on TV. Instead he was here at the traveling amusement park being pulled along by Tomoyo by the hem of his polo shirt. He too was dressed casually for the out doors but his selection of clothing only made him look older.

"Don't be like that," said Tomoyo. "Besides, I told you we're here on an important mission."

"What kind of mission?"

"We have to watch over those two, of course."

"Why?

"To make sure they stay alone."

Sōjirō thought about this for a moment. "Isn't it sort of defeating the purpose of making sure they're alone by being there to make sure they're alone?"

"Ok, that didn't make sense to me."

"You should listen to yourself talk."

Tomoyo suddenly turned around and swiftly put Sōjirō in a tight headlock. It only took a few seconds before Sōjirō started turning blue. A few people here and there were called to attention by Sōjirō's groans.

"What did you say about me?" asked Tomoyo with a malicious hint to her voice.

"Nothing!" said Sōjirō. "I said nothing!"

"Good."

She let him go and allowed him to breath. Around them, people were starting to stare. As Sōjirō got some air Tomoyo patted him on the back and put on a wry smile. Sōjirō was actually getting worried if peple might mistake them for a couple.

"Now that that's settled," said Tomoyo, "Let's go shall we?"

Tomoyo grabbed onto his sleeve and pulled him along again.

"Hey! Stop pulling me like that!"

"We have to hurry and find them."

"Will you relax? I know my own daughter. She'd be smart enough to think of something even before we get there."

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Back at the eatery.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Konata.

Kagami looked curious while behind her Tsukasa and Miyuki were almost panicking. Konata and Kagami soon noticed this and looked back at them.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Kagami, already annoyed and wondering about their already strange behavior as of a few seconds ago.

"Oh we're fine!" answered Tsukasa almost too defensively.

"You guys aren't acting fine," commented Konata.

Tsukasa and Miyuki started to sweat. While trying to come up with a response, that's when they notice that Konata was standing alone. Two large question marks appeared over the Tsukasa and Miyuki's heads.

"What?" asked Konata, noticing how they were staring at her.

"Um, Kona-chan," are you here alone?" asked Miyuki.

"Of course I am."

Tsukasa and Miyuki looked dumbfounded for a moment. They both flashed back to when they saw Konata sitting with a boy on the table across from their own. Almost immediately the two started looking around for the boy in question. This prompted looks of curiousity from both Konata and Kagami.

"Anyway…what are you guys doing here?" asked Konata again more directly to Kagami as she was the only person left she felt she could keep a conversation with.

"Well, I could ask you the same question," retorted Kagami. "What brings you here…and all by yourself, too?"

That last line had a hint of maliciousness in it that Konata could not place at that moment.

"Well, it was about my part-time job."

"Really, what are you supposed to be doing here then?" asked Kagami. At the same time she looked back at Tsukasa and Miyuki who were looking intently around them. Tsukasa was actually bending down to look under the tables.

"Well, we were hired to promote a shop here. I've been handing out fliers in my Haruhi uniform all afternoon." Konata looked back towards Tsukasa and Miyuki. "You two found who you were looking for yet?"

"Well…I suppose….no," said Tsukasa as she continued to look in every direction for an apparently non-existent person.

Kagami ignored them and turned back to Konata. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"I already ate and I'm tired so I guess I'll just call it day and go home now."

"But what about the job?"

"Oh, Patty-chan has already relieved me."

At this point, Tsukasa was standing on an empty chair scouting the area for someone she just couldn't find. Miyuki was wandering around peeking inside nearby bushes also looking for that person but having little success. Kagami and Konata were giving the two questioning looks as they both sweat-dropped.

"Those two have been worrying me recently," said Kagami.

Around that moment, one of the many mascots, this one dressed as _Doraemon_, came lumbering towards the four girls. Konata seemed to spot him first and pointed it out to them all. This was the only time Tsukasa and Miyuki stopped their fruitless search.

"Hey, you girls want tickets to the variety show?" asked the mascot.

"Variety show?" asked the three girls other than Konata.

"Tickets are free for the first show. It's tonight special since it is our opening night."

"Well, I'm a little bored," said Kagami. "I guess we could blow off an hour or two at the show. What do you guys say?"

Tsukasa and Miyuki hesitated in answering for a bit before they snapped to their senses. "Oh, yeah sure!" they both said.

Kagami sweat-dropped. "Uhh…sure…"

"Count me out," said Konata in an exhausted tone.

"Three tickets it is then," said the mascot as he handed it towards the three girls.

Kagami took them. "Okay, then. See you later Konata. C'mon you two, let's go before the show starts."

Kagami and the others started to move away. Tsukasa was still looking around and Kagami had to order her to stop it. Konata waved bye to them as they disappeared into the crowd. She stood there next to the Doraemon mascot for a few short moments to make sure they were alone. Eventually, the guy in the Doraemon costume took off the head piece.

"Didn't think they'd fall for it," said the Kirio.

"Yeah," said Konata. "It was pretty lucky that we were able to borrow that Doraemon costume from one of the vendors a while ago."

"Well, they were just finished with it for the day. But tell me, why did we do this to those guys again? Aren't they your friends?"

"Well, I guess that was a little mean, since you said you wanted to meet them but I wanted to make sure I could spend as much time with you as I can, Kirio-kun."

"I'm flattered," said Kirio as he took off the rest of the costume.

"I'm glad it all worked out. It was easier than I thought it would be."

"Easy for you to say. I paid for those tickets, you know."

"Well, now that I have you all to myself, let's not spoil the night, shall we?"

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On some nearby bushes

Tomoyo and Sōjirō were crouching low like a couple of overdressed _Shinobi_. They hid so as not to be seen by the two teens. They both watched as Konata and Kirio returned the costume to the stall owner which hey borrowed it from. and walked away to go somewhere else. Tomoyo had a look on her face that said she was impressed. Sōjirō on the other hand had an expression of boredom.

"That girl is pretty smart," said Tomoyo. "She must get that from her mother."

Sōjirō turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"Can we go now? I don't wanna miss my shows."

"We can't leave yet. What if somebody else tries to interrupts?

"Somehow, I doubt that."

"Well, we can never be too sure."

"Since when were you this paranoid? I don't think you were this paranoid when you were my neighbor."

Tomoyo suddenly put Sōjirō in one of her signature headlocks again. Sōjirō was once again turning blue and he could feel his spirit leaving his body.

"What did you say about me?" asked Tomoyo with a wry smile.

"Nothing! Nothing!"

Tomoyo finally let go and Sōjirō caught his breath. "I really wish you'd stop doing that."

"Never mind. Let's go before we loose 'em!"

Tomoyo grabbed Sōjirō's collar and pulled him along as they trailed the two teens.

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At the variety show.

The stage was dark, and suddenly, softly at first, music began to play. It was a soft kind of music like that of a love song. A spotlight lit up on the side to highlight the figure of Minoru Shiraishi. He held a mic on his hand and he brought it up to his mouth to speak. As he was about to do this, another spotlight lit up the figure of Akira Kogami as she slowly walked to the center of the stage with her head down in a solemn manner as she too carried a mic.

"On her way to her loved one's arms," began Minoru, "the day when she reaches, will it ever come? She travels alone, drifting, drifting away. With his words on that fateful day as her companion, she'll go anywhere to find his face. Let's listen to her song, Kogami Akira-san with "Cape of Thirty Years.""

As Minoru quietly walked off-stage, Akira lifted her head and sang in an angelic voice.

"_Do you mind if I talked to myself? I softly whispered to the--_"

A loud clanging sound as the audio turned off completely. Everyone looked to the side of the stage and saw Minoru with a wire tangled up in his foot.

"Whoops," he said. "I tripped on the wire by accident."

Akira was on him like snow on the peak of Mt. Fuji. "Accident my ass! You did that on purpose!"

"No I did not! Stop blaming me for every little thing!"

"You just can't stand the fact that I can be more popular than you!"

"Stop yelling at me all the time!!"

"You're the one who's yelling all the time, you jerk!"

Everyone in the audience sweat-dropped as the argument ran its course. Among them were Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki seated somewhere in the third row. Kagami let out a frustrated sigh, feeling that she's seen this before somewhere. Tsukasa and Miyuki exchanged some amused smiles with each other.

"They really get along well, don't they?" asked Miyuki.

"Despite being like that most of the time," said Tsukasa.

"And here I thought I was gonna see something normal for a change," commented Kagami. Too bad, Konata didn't come to see this. I'm sure she'd think this was entertaining. But, I guess she would be tired after handing out fliers all afternoon."

"Good thing Patty-chan was able to relieve her, huh?" said Tsukasa as if she wanted to drive the fact that Konata was going home alone.

"Guess so."

Both Tsukasa and Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief. There seemed to be no chance that Kagami will find out that Konata was with a boy just then. They thought back to it. Maybe that boy wasn't her date after all. What if she was telling the truth and that boy she was eating with was just her boss or something treating her to a thank-you meal? That was possible. They were pretty worried for a while there. But it looks like it would be smooth-sailing from now on—

"Wait a minute," said Kagami. "Isn't Patty-chan supposed to be sleeping over at Minami-chan's place with the others tonight?"

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Author's note: Sorry for being a little late again. So much stuff got in the way that I had to put this on hold a bit. But I must be doing something right with story. What, with all the reviews I'm getting plus the people who put this on their alerts. Well, I'll see how fast I can get the next chappie up. See you guys then!


	9. More shinobi, a show, and some fluff

Disclaimer: If I didn't make them chances are I don't own them.

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Somewhere in the park.

Konata and Kirio were walking side by side when Konata suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.

"You feeling cold or something?" asked Kirio.

"No," replied Konata. "I just got a chill all of a sudden. I don't know why."

Kirio raised his eyebrow in curiosity. Strange stuff like this has been happening to her a lot lately. Maybe he was just gone longer than he thought. Konata simply shrugged off the sudden chill and put on a cheery face. Kirio decided to leave the issue.

"Well, where do you want to go next?" asked Kirio.

"The Ferris wheel sound like a nice idea," replied Konata.

"Okay, then."

The two teens made their way to the Ferris wheel in good spirits. All the while they were unaware that they were being hunted down by something that was more deadlier than any other predator know to man.

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Somewhere else in the park.

Kagami has long since left the variety show (which was temporarily closed due to technical…and noise problems) and was now trudging across the park ground on a mission to hunt down a certain blue-haired otaku who owed her a big explanation.

Following behind her were the very nervous pair of Tsukasa and Miyuki. Both of the girls were sweating trying to come up with ideas on how to stop Kagami before she actually finds Konata and her…well, even they didn't dare to think about it with Kagami in this mood.

"Onee-chan, you need to calm down a bit," said Tsukasa

"Yeah, no need to get riled up over something like this," added Miyuki.

Kagami didn't have an ear for whatever they were saying. She was too focused on the number of questions she had for Konata should they catch up to her. Along with the number of things she'd like to do to Konata depending on how she would answer those questions.

"Where is that girl?" grumbled Kagami under her breath.

Kagami seemed to be emanating that dark aura of hers again since Tsukasa and Miyuki were inadvertently keeping their distance from her and, to be honest, so was everybody else around them who scooted away as soon as Kagami neared. The twin-ponytailed girl didn't notice any of this or simply chose to ignore them.

Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki were getting increasingly nervous about the situation. Tsukasa still had the memory of last night fresh in her mind. Miyuki, being long time friends with Kagami, knows what it's like when the normally docile girl get's a little bit ticked off.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Tsukasa.

"I don't know," replied Miyuki. "I know that Kagami-can can be pretty hard to talk out of something once she's in this sort of state."

"But if we don't so something, who knows what Onee-chan will do?"

"But I can't come up with any idea on how to pacify Kagami."

The two were so caught up in their discussion that they failed to notice that Kagami had stopped dead in her track. Tsukasa and Miyuki accidentally bumped into Kagami and fell on their butts while Kagami stood as still as a statue. Tsukasa and Miyuki ribbed their sore behinds then looked up at Kagami and were taken aback as they say her glowing red aura drain the light from the atmosphere.

Both Tsukasa and Miyuki looked into the direction Kagami was glaring at and they both spotted Konata…getting off the Ferris wheel…being helped by a boy.

Tsukasa and Miyuki's eyes went wide. They looked up at Kagami and lightly gasped.

Kagami practically fumed. "Konata…"

She slowly started taking steps forward slowly approaching the unsuspecting blue-haired girl and her companion. The ground beneath her feet seems to quake a bit with every step she took.

Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki were scrambling to get up off their butts and chase after her hoping to have some kind of plan to stop her. But Kagami seemed all but unstoppable at this point. Tsukasa and Miyuki racked their minds for a solution but they didn't have to think that much as a solution literally fell at their feet.

A small bouncing balled bounced right up to the three and suddenly exploded in a puff of smoke catching all three of the girls off guard. Kagami snapped out of her mood and started coughing as the some of the smoke invaded he lungs. The other two girls were trying to fan away the smoke with their open palms.

As soon as the smoke cleared and the three girls caught their breaths again they were all taken aback by a pair of ninjas dressed in contrasting red and blue suits.

"Good evening!" exclaimed the two ninjas accompanied by a lot of flamboyant and overly flashy martial arts style moves which look nothing like actual ninjitsu, "We're the super happy awesome ninja entertainers! Please take a minute to watch our show!!"

Kagami just stood their with her jaw dropped.

Tsukasa and Miyuki stared curiously. Around the three girls, a few other people started to gather to see what was up.

The blue ninja started doing a simple juggling act with a set of rubber balls. After a moment, The red ninja started throwing extra balls into the mix to make things more interesting.

Kagami continued to look dumbly at the two entertainers.

Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki started to lightly clap. The people around them were increasing in number and started whispering around.

Now the blue ninja was spinning plates on sticks on both his hands. At first there was just one plate per hand but the red ninja soon started to add even more spinning plates to each hand. The blue Ninja seemed to stager a bit at the additional plates but somehow kept his composure.

Kagami looked on, her eyebrow slowly rising.

Tsukasa and Miyuki started clapping faster and wore modest smiles on their faces. The crowed behind them doubled in number and the people were also starting to sheer for the two totally random entertainers.

Now the two ninjas were doing a small musical number where the blue ninja was playing a _samisen_ while the red ninja was singing something akin to the tune of some old theater play.

Kagami's eyebrow was at its highest point.

Tsukasa and Miyuki were clapping enthusiastically and wore bigger smiles on their faces. The crowd behind them doubled in number again and they too seemed quite entertained by the two performers who randomly came out of nowhere.

Now the blue ninja was doing a solo magic act where he constantly made playing cards appear in his hand out of thin air while the red ninja was just clapping him along.

Kagami was almost at a catatonic stupor at this point.

Tsukasa and Miyuki were over-elated. The crowd behind them had tripled and all the people were cheering like they would at a world cup match and some where even screaming for an encore.

"Wait a minute!?" Kagami suddenly exclaimed.

The two ninjas stopped what they were doing.

Kagami was eyeing them curiously. "Exactly who are you guys again?"

The ninjas were hesitant to answer for some reason. "Um…We're the super happy awesome ninja entertainers, miss!!" replied the red ninja.

"Are you part of the variety show?"

"Uhhh…yeah!"

"How come you weren't advertised?"

"Well, um…we're new here. We're freelance entertainers you see."

"But shouldn't you have registered with the park managers or something?"

"Well…uhhh…ummm…you see…THANK YOU ALL, YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!!!"

The red ninja threw another one of those small bouncing balls which quickly exploded into a puff of smoke which completely blocked out the sight of the people in the crowd. As Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki were trying to keep the smoke out of their lungs again, the smoke eventually cleared and the two ninjas were gone. The three girls were stood there slightly dumbfounded. Behind them the crowd broke into a flurry of curious murmurs as they eventually started to disperse back to their own businesses.

"Well, that was quite strange, wasn't it," commented Miyuki.

"Yeah, it was…" added Kagami. "…wait a minute?"

Kagami snapped out of it to remembered what she was doing a while ago. She started searching frantically in the direction of the Ferris wheel but unfortunately Konata was long gone.

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Behind some nearby bushes.

The red ninja removed her mask to reveal that she was in fact Tomoyo. "Well, that went rather nicely. Good thing I packed these cool ninja suits just in case."

The blue ninja removed his mask to reveal himself to be Sōjirō. "Yeah…I happen to find that rather creepy."

Two seconds later, he was in a headlock yet again.

"Hey, a good lady always comes prepared!" she stated.

"Alright! Just let go of me!"

She let him go and Sōjirō caught his breath. "Now that that's over, let's go return these props to the stage before they find out we took them without permission."

"Don't be so worried. At least the plan worked out perfectly right? Looks like that scary, twin-ponytailed girls lost track of Konata and Kirio. That really was a great plan, I came up with!"

"So great that _we_ also lost track of those two…"

Tomoyo gloated for a bit then Sōjirō's words repeated in her head. Realization hit her and she then slapped her forehead with her palm. "Darn it!!"

Sōjirō could only sigh exasperatingly.

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Somewhere else.

Konata and Kirio managed to find a quiet place at the shore of the pond. By now, it was around nine in the evening and it was a cloudless night. The stars were bright and clear in al their beauty. Fireflies were dancing around over cattails near the shore of the natural pond.

There were a few other people near the shore of the pond, some where couple and others where small groups of friends picnicking. They were all seated on the soft grass that surrounded the pond. Each couple or group was spaced far apart from each other as if they all knew of an unspoken rule that everyone here was looking for privacy and everyone respected that.

Among them were Konata and Kirio. The two teens were seated closest to the water. After a tiring day the came here to relax.

"I had a wonderful time," said Konata, resting her head on Kirio's shoulder.

"Thanks," said Kirio. "That means a lot to me."

"So tell me, when are you guys leaving tomorrow?"

"Around three in the afternoon."

Konata sighed sadly. "Do you really have to leave so soon?"

Kirio turned to look down at her face. He saw genuine loneliness form there. It stirred up a string of emotions in his own mind that made him feel good and bad at the same time.

"Well, it can't be helped," he said. "I have to go back to school when my vacation's over."

"I see," was all Konata could say.

Kirio felt an uncomfortable silence pass by them and he was compelled to say something. "It's not like I'm not coming back."

This caught Konata's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"My mom has always been planning to move the business back here. She's well on her way to doing just that. Plus, I have my eye set on a certain university here in Saitama. I'll be graduating from high-school soon."

Konata's eyes seem to light up. "I'm glad to hear that."

Kirio stretched out his arms and laid back onto the grass. "Why would you be?"

Konata turned away with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Just because!"

Kirio took some slight humor in her reaction but it made him happy to hear her say that.

"But, it's still a pretty long wait," said Konata, looking out into the pond. "Won't you get a little lonely in the west?"

Kirio shrugged. "Maybe…"

Konata turned to him with a caring smile. She slowly lowered her head so that it was right over Kirio's own. They both looked into each others eyes for who knows how long.

"Just so you won't get lonely," said Konata right before she slowly closed her eyes and lowered her lips down to his. They met in a kiss that lasted only a few seconds but to them it was enough to cover for all the years they missed together.

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Much later.

Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki were in there own little resting spot somewhere on the outer rims of the amusement park. They had managed to find a nice little spot in the park with benches and little people passing by. They were seated side by side with Kagami in the center.

"Man, I can't believe I wasted all that energy," said Kagami.

After spending the remainder of the night looking for a certain blue-haired friend of theirs, who they failed to find in the end, Kagami had finally managed to calm down much to the relief of her two companions.

"Well, you could always ask Kona-chan in the morning right?" suggested Tsukasa. "If you really want to know about her…you know."

Kagami let out long, exasperated sigh. "Why do I even bother being so worked up over something like this…I ought to be happy for Konata."

"My, that's a nice thing to say, Kagami-chan," said Miyuki.

"Well, whoever her date is, I doubt we'll see him tonight. Why don't we just go home?"

"I think that would be a good idea. You look like you need the rest."

They all got up and started to walk away into the direction of the bus station. None of them noticed the teenage boy that suddenly appeared from close by who seemed to be looking for somebody. The teenage boy spotted the three and couldn't recognize them at first but decided to give it a try anyway.

"Excuse me!" called out the boy.

All three girls turned around to see a boy that none of them recognized. Strangely though, Kagami felt like she knew him from somewhere. "Um, yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to be a Miss Kagami Hiiragi, would you?"

Kagami felt strange that a stranger would know her name but she didn't fee like this kid was any danger to them. "Yeah, that's me."

The teenage boy smiled pleasantly then looked at the two girls on either side of Kagami. "And you guys must be Tsukasa and Miyuki, right?"

Both girls nodded, also feeling a little strange about the situation.

"Hey, how come you know our names?" asked Kagami. "And who are you anyway?"

"Call me Kirio," he said, "and don't worry I mean you no harm. I'll be leaving in a bit but I wanted to see you guys first."

"Um…why?"

"I wanted to thank you guys."

All three of the girls looked at each other questioningly. They all turned back towards the teenage boy who they never met but could feel a slight connection with. "Thank us?"

"Yeah. To thank you and to ask favor actually. A small favor."

"Hey, hold on, we barely know you."

"I know but I have to make sure of something before I leave, that's all."

"And what would that be?"

Kirio hesitated a bit as if trying to find the right words to say. "I just wanted to ask you guys…to continue being good friends to Konata."

All three girls were rendered speechless. They were frozen in place and couldn't say a word to the strange new boy in front of them.

"You have no idea," he continued, "how much I appreciate the fact that Konata has such good friends like you guys. And I'm sure you also don't know just how much you guys mean to her as well. I mean, she might make fun of you guys a lot, I'm sure. But the thing is that I'm also sure that she holds you guys dear more than you think. So please, ca I ask you guys to continue being her friends?"

A silence followed. Kirio patiently waited for their answer. The three girls looked at each other again questioningly before turning back to Kirio.

"Umm, I don't really know you," started Tsukasa, "but I definitely will be as good of a friend as I can be to Kona-chan."

"I, as well," said Miyuki. "I like having Izumi-san as a friend."

Kagami couldn't hold back the smile on her face. "Well, I guess I could hang out with that little brat a little longer," she said heartily.

Kirio smiled with genuine satisfaction. "Thank you, that's all I needed to know."

He glanced at his watch. "Wow, that time already? I really have to go. Thanks again for you time. See ya then"

Kirio turned and quickly rushed back towards the park. Kagami and the others didn't know what to make of the situation. Then they suddenly had the urge to ask him just how he knew Konata in the first place. But before any of them could call him back, he was already gone.

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Author's note: I'm almost done with this story. Please excuse the lateness as I had so many important stuff to do that it kept me very busy. Pls. R&R!

Other notes: A _samisen_ is a traditional three-string banjo-like Japanese instrument.


	10. Romance cliches and a really fluffy end

Disclaimer: Whatever I said in the previous chapters!

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Haneda Airport (Better known as Tokyo International Airport).

It was just a few fours before lunch and the day was getting pretty bright. The hustle and bustle of everyday travel showed in the hundreds of people, foreign or otherwise, moving about in the terminals coming and going with the sometimes indiscernible announcement of the PA system guiding them on. Those who weren't going anywhere in particular, like a certain blue-haired girl staring out the window, had a chance to enjoy the spacious terminals all they wanted.

Konata looked somberly out the window at a 747 that was flying off into the distance. Its destination: Vancouver. Onboard: Kirio and his mom.

The farewells were short and simple. They exchanged simple words which pretty much said all that had to be said. Although is wasn't that sad. Both Konata and Kirio knew this wasn't a final good-bye or anything like that. They'll meet again someday, they both knew that. Even so, the moment Kirio went past the plane's door and it closed behind him, Konata felt a little lonely already.

As the 747 disappeared into the distance Konata let out a somber sigh.

"Aww, don't be so sad, Kona-chan," said Tsukasa.

"Yeah, it's not like you won't see him again," said Kagami.

"I'm sure he misses you too," added Miyuki.

"I bet he's thinking about you right now, Onee-chan," said Yutaka.

Konata's somber expression turned into one of exasperation accompanied by a large sweat-drop dropping down the side of her face. Standing behind her were her three best friends and her younger cousin who, despite her protests, managed to tag along on the trip to Haneda Airport along with her, her dad, Kirio, and Mrs. Sato.

"Why are you guys here again?" said Konata in an annoyed tone.

"Well, you know what they say," said Kagami, "the more the merrier."

"That's not always the case, Kagamin."

"Oh, c'mon, don't be like that. We've rarely been to Tokyo so we wanted to come along. Kirio didn't seem to mind our company that much. He was pretty a nice guy actually. And besides, you wouldn't introduce us to him so naturally we wanted to meet him ourselves."

Konata let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, that's because…"

"You wanted to spend as much time with him as you could, right?"

Konata choked. Her friends got a hardy giggle out of her reaction. For some reason Konata felt like not that much as change even though Kirio must've been twenty miles out to sea by that point. Konata let out a softer sigh and turned to meet her friends.

"Well, let's just forget about that, alright?" said Konata, wanting to switch to another subject, "Let's go to where my dad is before he decided to complain to me that we left him alone for too long. You guys must also be hungry by now."

Her three friends and cousin nodded and the four of them shuffled off to where Sōjirō was waiting in a restaurant somewhere in the terminal.

Konata followed suit but took one last glance at the window before she left.

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At a nearby restaurant.

All six of the gang that came to the airport were all there eating their respective orders of lunch. They were all pretty eager to get lunch over with since Sōjirō has agreed to take them a little sightseeing later on. Konata and Sōjirō come to the city Tokyo regularly (for Konata it's usually for Comiket) while the other do so rarely. The last time the Hiiragi sisters came here was during Comiket 71 on Konata's behest.

"So Konata," spoke up Sōjirō, "how are you faring?"

Konata seemed confused for a bit. "What do you mean?"

"I hope you don't feel too lonely now that Kirio's gone."

Konata choked on her Ramen when she heard this and the other girls got a giggle out of it.

"Dad, knock it off!" said Konata. "It's not like I can't contact him. We exchanged e-mail addresses."

"Oh, great. That's gonna give me a harder time to get you to allow me to use the computer."

"By the way," said Kagami. "How did you guys first meet anyway?"

Konata seemed to blush at that. "Well…that's uh…"

"Please tell us, Kona-chan," added Tsukasa. "I've been wondering about that too. Is it a romantic story?"

"Oh, C'mon Tsukasa, get real."

"But I'm sure it's a nice story," said Miyuki. "Maybe you guys met under some interesting circumstances that formed the bond between you two."

"No, we just met!"

"Maybe it's like one of those dōjin Hiyori-chan owns," said Yutaka. "You know, the romantic ones?"

Konata blushed more. "It's nothing like that, you guys."

"Oh just tell us, Konata-chan," said Kagami. "What, are you gonna make us have to guess how you guys met?"

"You can try."

"Oooh, can I try?" enthusiastically said Tsukasa. Maybe it was like…"

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On some rainy day.

A young blue-haired girl was rushing down the road on her way home with her schoolbag held over her head to try and cover herself from the rain. However, the bag did little to help as she continued to get soaked up to her collar. Even more unfortunate for her was the fact that she was on a dirt road and in all directions she could see nothing but grass fields. And then, just when she had given up hope, she saw sanctuary in the form of an old bus stop waiting shed.

She ran towards it and ducked under its meal roof. She dropped her school bag and panted uncontrollably. She took her seat at the wooden bench and doing so made her realize just how soaked she was.

"Aww, man, I can't believe I'm all wet," she fussed to herself. "How am I gonna get home now. It's my turn to cook dinner too. Dad will get mad at me if I don't have dinner ready by the time he gets home. Darn this stupid rain! Why'd you have to start falling now?!"

It wasn't until she stopped panting when she realized that she was not alone in the waiting sed. Seated no more an a few feet away from her was a young boy about her age and who seemed to also just come from school. By the time she realized he was there he had already been looking at her with a slightly amused face. This prompted Konata to blush.

"Oh! Um, didn't see you there!" she blurted out. "Uhh, sorry you had to hear all that."

"It's okay," he replied in a mild-mannered tone. "I feel like that sometimes too."

"Oh, right," she said, scratching the back of her head while still a little embarrassed. "I suppose we all fee that way from time to time."

"That's why I always bring an umbrella with me," he said while raising his hand to show that he did have an umbrella.

"Good idea. Wish I had thought of that too,"

The boy suddenly stood up and opened his umbrella. He turned towards her. "Well, let's go then."

She was taken aback by this. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"We can share my umbrella. Didn't you say you might get in trouble if you're not home early? I feel that we're both headed in the same direction anyway so I might as well help you stay dry as much as you can."

"Wait. How come you were sitting here if you could go home already?"

"Well…" the boy looked out into the grass fields as the rain continued to pour down. He had a peaceful, almost serene, expression on his face. "I love the rain. Watching it helps makes me feel relaxed…It's like the world is purifying itself with the rain."

The girl was speechless. She found herself looking up at this boy in admiration.

He turned to her and smiled at her. "Well, we'd better get going before the rain get heavier."

She nodded and moved next to him so that they were both under the umbrella. Together they came out of the waiting shed and walked down the dirt road side-by-side. As the walked the girl seemed to press herself closer and closer to the boy, who didn't mind. Even though they just met, it was as if they had know each other for their—

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"No!!" exclaimed Konata. "That's not how it happened! I never met Kirio like that! I've never met anybody like that!"

"Well, I guess it is a little outrageous," said Tsukasa who came up with the idea.

"But it still sounded nice though," said Miyuki.

"Wait!" exclaimed Yutaka. "Can I have a guess at how they met too?"

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Nighttime. Behind some alley.

A blue-haired girl was knocked down onto the hard concrete by a bunch of _Bōsōzoku_bikers. There were three of them, their figures illuminated by the headlights of their bikes behind them. They all carried wooden _bokken_ which they rested on their shoulders trying to look intimidating.

The girl started to slowly move back and away from the three men. "Please, leave me alone!"

"You trespassed into out territory ," said the apparent leader of the small group. "You have to pay the price, girl!"

The here men started laughing ominously. The girl started getting more nervous and it showed in her shivering lips and increasingly sweaty brow. The three men started walking towards her when suddenly…

"Leave her alone!"

The voice came from be hind the girl. All four looked towards where the voice came from. There stood a young boy wearing a school uniform and carrying a _shinai_ on one hand. The boy was walking towards the group obviously not intimidated by the bikers and their wooden weapons.

"Picking on a girl," said the boy. "You guys are lower than I thought."

"You stay out of this, kid!" said one of the bikers.

"No way. Somebody has to teach you guys a lesson."

The boy walked passed the downed girl and positioned himself between the girl and the three bikers. He held his bamboo weapon ready and motion with one hand for the three bikers to charge him if they dared. The bikers got mad and obliged.

"You asked for it!" exclaimed the first biker to charge.

The biker held his bokken high and made to swing down but the boy was quicker with a thrust that flattened the biker's nose. The biker took a step back as he screamed fro his broken nose. The boy wasted no time in delivering a finishing swing to the side of the head which knocked the biker into the wall, bringing him down to the floor.

The other two bikers charged in unison thinking that would give them an advantage. They were wrong. The boy ducked as the two bikers swung towards his head. While crouching, the boy quickly jabbed the handle of his shinai at the foot of one of the bikers causing him to yelp in pain then hop back wards on one foot. The boy finished him off with a quick rising slash to the chin as he was getting up. The biker was instantly knocked down to the floor.

The last biker turned around after missing the boy once to try again. The boy quickly spun around and parried the biker's slash away with his shinai. The boy then followed up with a very fast and very powerful 360 degree spinning slash to the stomach of the biker knocking the wind out of him. The biker fell down to his knees.

The boy stood over them victoriously. Behind the boy the blue-haired girl was staring up at him with great admiration.

The three bikers eventually got back up and rushed to their bikes to escape. "You'll pay for this!" one of them exclaimed just as they rode off into the night. The boy let out an exasperating sigh.

He then turned to the girl behind, walked up to her (to which she slightly regressed) and offer out his hand. "Are you okay?"

She slowly nodded her head and soon took his hand. He gently pulled her up. She continued to look up to his face which wore a reassuring smile.

"Thank you," the girl said.

"Well, it the job of the noble hero to save the damsel in distress, isn't it?"

The girl blushed some more and moved closer to the boy. She seemed to sink in his deep eyes. As if her very soul was being whisked away by the soft stares he was giving—

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"Alright, I think that's enough, Yu-chan," said Kagami, stopping Yutaka in her theorized scenario on how Konata and Kirio first met. "I thought that Konata was bad with all her fantasies but you two are even worse."

Tsukasa and Yutaka blushed and rubbed the back of their heads while sweat-dropping.

At one end of the table Konata was sighing exasperatingly. She really wanted to change the subject of their conversations. A second later her bladder started calling to her and she stood up off her seat.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said Konata. "Where is it anyway?"

"It's all the way at the end of the terminal," said Sōjirō.

"Aww, man…I'll be back in a few minutes."

Konata left the table and proceeded out of the restaurant to find the rest room. the rest of the crew continued on with their meals. After a while, when he was sure Konata was far enough away not to hear them, Sōjirō called the attention of the other three girls.

"Hey, do you guys really want to know how those two first met?" he asked.

The four girl sitting around in the table with him suddenly turned their heads up towards him in interest.

"You know how they first met, uncle Sōjirō?" inquired Yutaka.

"Kirio told me the story once but Konata doesn't know that. I feel that I should tell you guys about it. What do you say."

The girls all looked at each other and then nodded their heads towards Sōjirō.

"Well, it was around twelve years ago…"

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On a familiar playground.

A six-year-old Konata Izumi sat alone on one of the swings with a depressed expression on her face. Above her, the sky was not helping the mood. It had just rained, like it usually does in the fall season just before winter hits, and the sky was the dark and gray despite it being around three in the afternoon. It seemed to reflect her mood perfectly. There was no one else in the park which was the main reason she decided to stay there. On her other days, she wouldn't have bothered coming to the play ground. She didn't like playing there anyway. She wanted to be alone.

She went there following an argument she just had with her father. It was a pointless argument about something trivial but somewhere along the line of that argument, Konata's mother Kanata, came up. That led to an emotional roller coaster that neither father nor child was ready for. Eventually, they both dropped it and Konata just opted to take a walk outside to get some air.

She has been like this, ever since her mother passed away about over three years ago. By then, she would've moved on but the loneliness seemed to persist. When in public, she would put on a nice face for the sake of the crowd, pretending she has forgotten. But on somber times like this she can't help but remember and when that happens all she wants is to be alone.

Knowing that she's alone, she thought about her mom, as if trying to keep that memory alive. At such a young age, she barely got to know her all that well aside from the maternal side which Konata misses the most. And while she loved her father dearly, there was still a spot for her mother that just never got filled and that was the source of her loneliness most of the time.

She looked up at the sky and saw the sheer grayness of it. She looked back down to her own feet and let out a long sigh. Before she knew it, she actually started to cry a tiny bit while indulging herself in her memories and brought a single hand up to wipe the tear in her eye.

"Why are you crying?" asked somebody in front of her.

Konata was startled and looked up. She was surprised to find a boy, seven-year-old Kirio Sato, standing in front of her with an inquiring question. Konata wondered how this boy could've snuck up on her.

"Are you hurt or something?" he asked with concern.

"None of your business!" she pouted, than angrily turned her head away.

Kirio was taken aback by this. "Hey, that wasn't very nice of you. I was just asking if something was bothering you, that's all. You were crying after all."

She glared at him. "I wasn't crying!"

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't!!!"

"You are now."

Konata then realized that he was right. In the heat of their argument, she was starting to cry again. She tried to come up with a comeback but her mind drew a blank. So, on the brink of tears and not wanting this boy to see it, Konata quickly got up and off her swing and ran past the boy. Kirio tried to call out to stop her but the inevitable happened before he could say anything

In her haste, Konata forgot that it just rained and the ground was still wet. She slipped on the wet soil and fell with her arms flailing in an almost cartoonish manner onto the stone pathway and scraped her knee in the process. Kirio cringed at the sight of her falling down.

Konata got off her hurt knee and sat on the stone path. She tried to hold it back but eventually the tears flowed out of her eyes and she was crying again.

Kirio sighed exasperatingly and sweat-dropped slightly at the sight of this girl on the pavement. "I was about to say, 'be careful' just then too."

Konata glared at him again. "This is all your fault!!"

Kirio looked back at her with an accusing stare. "What do you mean? You're the one who ran. You even puched me a bit."

"You made me cry first!"

"I thought you said you weren't crying?"

Konata was speechless again and found herself without a comeback at that. She angrily turned her head away instead, trying hide her expression of defeat.

Kirio ignored her obvious contempt towards him and moved closer to her while taking out a handkerchief out of his pocket. He moved down to her scraped knee and proceeded to bandage it. Konata was taken aback by this but didn't do anything to stop the boy. Watching him work actually made her flushed slightly.

"I get scraped a lot myself," said Kirio. "I'm used to doing this. But my mom gets really mad when I keep bringing home all those stained hankies."

"I…I see," said Konata.

Kirio finished off with a tight knot to secure the make-shift bandage in place. "There you go."

He stood up and offered her his hand. Konata was a bit hesitant but took it eventually. Kirio helped her back up to her feet. There was a slightly awkward silence that followed until Konata spoke up. "This doesn't mean I'm no longer mad at you, you know!"

"You still sad?" Kirio asked.

Konata turned away. "Well, not really but…"

Before she could react to it, Kirio closed the gap between them and wrapped her in a light hug. Konata went wide-eyed and blushed beat-red but she didn't do anything to stop it. The hug lasted only a few seconds. Kirio pulled back eventually and Konata just stood there dumbly.

"What was that for?!" she exclaimed with an embarrassed face.

Kirio wore a knowing smile on his face. "My mom once told me that if a person is feeling sad, a hug usually cheers them up again. I haven't tried it before. I guess she was right."

Konata just stood there, scrunching her arms to her side and her legs together with an almost completely flushed face. Kirio smiled to himself since the hug seemed to work. She wasn't crying anymore.

"I was gonna get some ice cream just now," said Kirio. "My mom even gave me extra money in case I wanted more. But you could just come with me and I'll by you a cone."

Konata looked up at him. "Why would you do that for me?"

"To make sure your not sad anymore. Next best thing after a hug is ice cream. That's what I heard anyways. And I don't want to see you crying again too."

Konata looked angry. "I wasn't--!!"

"Please don't start that again."

Konata stopped in the middle of her pouting. Kirio quickly grabbed her hand before she could say anything and pulled her along towards the ice cream vendor he was headed to a moment ago.

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Some years later at Haneda Airport.

An twelve-year-old Konata and a thirteen-year-old Kirio stood somewhere in the terminal waiting for a certain flight to start boarding. Somewhere off to the side, their respective parents were having their own conversation. Both kids had a slightly saddened expression on their faces. Both knew what was going on and both knew what that meant for each of them.

"So, you guys are really leaving, huh?" said Konata.

"We have to," said Kirio. "My mom and I can't miss this opportunity."

"I guess you're right."

"Don't be like that. It makes things harder for me too, you know. And, who knows, me and mom might come back here some time in the future."

"I'm just worried I'm gonna be lonely here once your gone. I've never been that popular with the other kids. Plus I'm going to a new middle-school starting next year."

"Then that only give's you a chance to start anew."

Konata looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"It'll give a chance to make a whole new first impression on everybody at that school. You know, _chiisai __kitsune__-chan--_"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

Kirio laughed that protest off much to the annoyance of Konata. "What I'm trying to say is. You can be pretty outgoing if you want to. You can make so many friends of you just let yourself be more expressive."

"But I'm not like other girls. That's what worries me."

"What's so great about the other girls. Compared to someone like, other girls are pretty boring. So what If you're interested in other things? You should be proud of that. It sets you apart, you know."

Konata looked at him weirdly for a moment but a smile eventually formed on her lips. Kirio returned the sentiment.

The flight announcer sounded off the boarding call for a flight. It was the one that they've been waiting for. Kirio's mom, Tomoyo, called for him to pick up is bags and move. Kirio called back with an affirmative remark. He picked up the duffel bag full of his stuff sitting by his lg and stood up Konata followed him as they walked to where he would board the plane.

"What about you?" asked Konata.

"What do you mean?"

"Won't _you_ get lonely in the west?"

"Maybe. Depends on the people at my new school. Hopefully I won't be too lonely there."

Konata grabbed his shoulder to stop him just before he followed his mother into the plane. She pulled his face towards her with her hand. Before Kirio could ask what she was up to, she shot her face up and met her lips with his in a soft kiss. Kirio went wide-eyed and blushed slightly but he didn't do anything to stop it .It lasted only for a second. Kirio simply stood there looking curiously at Konata.

"What was that all about?" he asked, a little flushed.

Konata blushed. "My dad used to tell me that if a boy feels lonely that a kiss on the lips usually makes them feel better…so, you know…just so you won't get lonely."

Kirio couldn't help but giggle slightly and the cute absurdness of it all. Konata just got more embarrassed.

"Thanks," said Kirio. "Now I'm sure I won't get lonely."

Konata looked up at Kirio with a bright smile on her face. "You're welcome then."

They exchanged smiles and farewells until Kirio had to board his plane with his mom. Before disappearing into the plane. Kirio looked back at Konata and gave her a wink. Konata waved him off knowing somewhere in her gut that this won't be the last time they'll see each other.

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Author's Note: I couldn't end this story without tell how they first met so here it is. Well, that was a fun little story to write! Hope you guys liked everything so far. For this chapter I wanted to squeeze in as much fluff without over-saturating it. Plus, I wanted to get in my favorite romantic encounter clichés that are just too common in most animes and mangas. Pls. R&R!

Other Notes: A _bokken_ is a wooden sword resembling a Katana used for practice. A _shinai_ is a bamboo sword used in the sport of kendo.

P.S. Happy Holidays!


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